


Our Liberties We Prize And Our Rights We Maintain

by ScotlandEvander



Series: Various States [19]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Frozen (2013) References, Gen, Inhumans (Marvel), Kree (Marvel), Loki Feels, Male-Female Friendship, Mutant Powers, Smile Power, Soul-Searching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 15:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6990889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScotlandEvander/pseuds/ScotlandEvander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki runs away from home and joins SHEILD. While he thinks all he needs to do is beat the living daylights out of HYDRA, he gets sucked into something much bigger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

_A/N: Welcome to Loki’s Agents of SHIELD adventure! This two part installment covers the Agents of SHEILD episodes from when Loki joins before season two starts and ends after the Inhuman uprising. I know a lot (A LOT) is going on in Agents of SHEILD, so I chose to focus on the whole Inhuman thing for reasons._

**_Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it._ **

* * *

_What happens when all your dreams are lying on the ground / Do you pick up the pieces all around_

_-Lifehouse, “Chapter One”_

* * *

“I don’t like this at all.”

“I know.”

“I have to train Skye, I don’t have time to deal with Loki as well.”

“So, I shouldn’t ask you to train Agent Nicholls as well?”

May scowled deeply. “I wouldn’t train him if my life depended on it.”

“Don’t say that. He’s got potential.”

“Both he and Loki are mentally unstable.”

“Loki’s got a new therapist,” Phil assured. “One who is not HYDRA.”

May continued to scowl. “I’m only training Skye.”

Phil sighed deeply. “I need all of them trained.”

“Director Coulson, I am trained.”

Phil rolled his eyes skyward and didn’t bother to try to figure out how Loki had managed to get into his office without either May or himself noticing.

“I spent over a thousand years training to be a warrior,” Loki went on, letting himself down from where he’d hidden himself in the rafters.

Stupid old building.

“And since I’ve been mortal, I’ve trained with the Black Widow to learn my limits,” Loki offered, coming to rest next to May, who shot bullets at him with her eyes. He smirked. “I shall train Agent Nicholls, though I am unsure why you think he’s mentally unstable. He’s the sanest person here.”

May continued trying to kill Loki with her eyes. Loki gave up on getting a verbal answer and turned his attention to Phil.

“Director, you know that Agent Nicholls is a trained solider.”

“From World War I,” Phil reminded Loki.

“He is excellent with a sword,” Loki proclaimed, lifting his chin. “He took fencing during his formative years, and as an officer in the British Army, he was drilled with the sword for battle. I suggest we use this skill to train him for combat in today’s world.”

“How?”

“Give him a sword,” Loki replied. “I’m sure some of your scientist can make him a fancy one. Or I’ll ask Stark.”

May scowled deeper if possible.

“Do you have a sword to train with?” Phil inquired. “I know you came outfitted with your own daggers, but did you bring a sword? I don’t think we’ve got one lying around.”

“You didn’t. I made one.”

“You made one?” May doubtfully inquired.

“Out of wood. Practice sword. I doubt he’s up to parr,” Loki scoffed. “I’ll leave it to you to find him a real one. I can also instruct him how to shoot a gun. He has the basics, as he was issued a gun.”

“A musket?” May asked.

“A rifle. It was the British calvary officer’s primary weapon, the sword was secondary,” Loki reported. “No, I meant you’ve given him a handgun. He must be able to shoot it.”

“He can’t shoot a rifle,” May snapped.

“His aim isn’t perfect,” Loki corrected. “Not surprising as he wasn’t trained as a sniper. He had a pistol, if memory serves me correctly. Hence why he was cleared for the handgun, correct.”

“He can’t shoot a gun,” May repeated.

“He can shoot a gun,” Loki insisted. “He’s just not as skilled as you.”

May narrowed her eyes.

“Okay, you two. Calm down. Agent Nicholls is able to shoot a gun, Agent May. He just doesn’t always hit his targets. Can you improve on that as well as the sword play?”

“Yes,” Loki answered before grinning wildly and exiting stage right.

“You’re going to regret this,” May warned before she followed.

Phil sat down, rubbing his temples.

Two hours later, he stared as Loki and Jim put on a show for those gathered. Loki hadn’t been joking when he said Nicholls could use a sword.

“Don’t give him a sharp object,” May urged while watching the two men battle it out in the gym with wooden swords. (Where Loki had gotten the wood was a mystery, but one Phil didn’t really care about. He had a lot of other things to worry about than Loki going out and killing a tree to make a sword. Or taking apart some table.)

“I’m not going to let him sleep with it under his bed,” Phil assured. “It’ll go in his locker. Just like the gun he was issued.”

May glared at him. “I can’t believe you issued him a gun.”

“He’s not dangerous.”

“He’s mentally unstable.”

“He knows to come to us when he feels the urge to draw,” Phil said quietly as the gathered crowd cheered as Jim got the upper hand and pinned Loki to the ground. “He’ll be fine. What would you do if it was me?”

May glanced at him out of the side of her eye, but said nothing.

* * *

_Take me back to the town where I was born / ‘Cause I’m tried of being a stranger and I’m miles from home_

_-Noel Gallagher, “While The Song Remains the Same”_

* * *

Loki had run away before. He’d been ten and Thor had gotten him in trouble for a prank against their governess. Looking back, Loki accepted Thor likely hadn’t meant to get him in trouble, but in his excitement about the success of their first big prank together, he’d let it slip Loki was behind the reason the woman had run screaming from the nursery and refused to enter again. 

Loki had never witness the wrath of Odin until that night and he did not like it.

So, he ran away.

He did not go far, as at age ten he’d never left the palace, so once he was out, he had no idea where to go.

The guards found him, and he was yelled at once more.

The next time he ran away, he was thirteen. This time he made it to the forest before Thor found him and brought him home. No one other than Thor shouted at him and by thirteen years, Loki was immune to Thor’s shouting as he did it so often.

He didn’t bother to run off again until he was 200. By that time he had learned to use the doorways on the World Tree and found himself on another planet, merrily living out a days of his life in anonymity and learning things he’d never learn on Asgard before Thor and his merry band of idiots found him and dragged him home.

The last time he’d run away it was because everything had gone wrong. All his plans, his schemes, and dreams died. Though, it wasn’t really running away as much as trying to kill himself, but, eh, details.

This time, well, this time he ran away (in an expensive car he stole from Stark) and no one was going to come after him. He’d made sure of that.

He was starting to wonder what he’d gotten himself into as he and his current teammates were under fire while they were trying to get the obelisk back from an enhanced human HYDRA cohort.

“Don’t touch that!” Loki screamed as Agent Hartley reached towards the obelisk that had fallen out of the case and skittered towards to her. He recognized the thing fir what it truly was, but it was too late.

She touched it.

Loki’s eyes widened. Agent Hartley slowly turned to something that looked like stone then crumbled before his eyes.

Loki stopped breathing, mind whirling.

“LOKI!”

Pain. Oh, god, so much pain. Being human was a harrowing, horrible thing while wounded.

Oh, no. Someone had yelled his real name, not his fake one. And the government was here.

Eh, he was going to die. The world was blacking out. Loki should say something dramatic as he met his demise, but nothing came out before the whole world went black.

Only, he didn’t die. He opened his eyes and found himself on the floor of the Quinjet SHEILD had stolen from the US government (something Loki could get behind). Skye and James hovered over him.

“What happened?” Skye demanded. “Jim pulled you out, but we lost contact with Hunter. And I think everyone else…”

“Is dead,” Loki spat. “We were ambushed by Creel.”

Skye opted to wear a put out expression and sat back on her heels.

“We were unable to recover the bodies,” James quietly relayed. “The government swooped in. We’re pretty sure they got Mr Hunter.”

“In the case of Agent Hartley, there is no body,” Loki explained, trying to sit up.

The world spun.

“You’ve got a huge lump on the back of your head. One of the henchmen got you good,” Skye said, extending an ice pack towards Loki.

Grudgingly, he took it and put it over the huge lump on the back of his head. Creel, who was an amped up super humans who could vanish or something, was the nail under SHEILD’s skin at the moment and now he had the weapon they’d been trying to keep away from HYDRA.

A weapon of mass destruction: a Kree Diviner. Loki had seen those before. During one of the times he’d run away from Asgard, only it’d looked a different. This one wasn’t glowing yellow.

“Creel got it, didn’t he?” Skye sighed, falling into one of the jump seats.

“Correct. It is more dangerous than originally thought.”

“It is?” James worriedly asked.

“I’d yet to see it up close other than in old, grainy, falling apart photos, so I was unaware what it truly is,” Loki said, scowling. “It’s Kree.”

“Kree?” Skye repeated. “What’s Kree?”

“Another sentient race of beings,” Loki answered. “Where are we heading?”

“Back to base,” James replied.

“What does it do?” Skye wanted to know.

“It is meant to bring out…” Loki trailed off as his sluggish mind tried to think of how to explain history he wasn’t clear on to begin with to two humans who knew nothing about it to begin with. “The Kree are a race who engaged in a very long war that went on for eons upon eons. Around the time the All-Father won the war against the Frost Giants here on Earth, a group returned to this planet to cull humans to be their warriors after the Frost Giants were defeated.”

Skye made a face while James blanched.

“When did that happen again?”

“1050 years ago.”

“Really?”

“Yes. That is how old I am, that was when the war between the Frost Giants and Asgard ended. They were here for at least two hundred years, as I stumbled upon Midgard when I ran away.”

“You make it a habit to run away?” Skye muttered at the same time James asked, “You were born 1050 years ago?”

“Yes.”

“Brilliant,” James muttered looking as if his head might explode. “What did the Kree do to the humans?”

“They did experiments, played with genetics, and untimely failed. And they did this multiple times throughout the history of mankind. The experiments were not condoned by the larger Kree population ever and upon finding out what was happening each time it was attempted, another faction swooped down and ended the experiments. The victims were…”

“Exterminated?” Skye offered darkly.

“Mostly. However, there were rumors a few survived. There are always are, aren’t there in genetic trials?” Loki asked, pressing his lips together and closing his eyes.

“Did the All-Father intervene?” James inquired.

“No. While he proclaimed to be the protector of all Nine Realms, he never once returned to Earth after he’d chased the Frost Giants back to their world of darkness and ice.”

“And you visited two hundred years after the war ended?”

Loki opened his eye and looked at James. “Yes, it was my first jaunt through the passages ways between Realms. Once I discovered the passages ways between the Realms, I was almost never on Asgard, thus I stopped running away.”

Skye stuck out her tongue at him.

“I happened across the Kree during my first trip here. I didn’t understand at the time what they were doing,” Loki admitted. “I also didn’t care. You must understand, I was young and arrogant. Mortals were like flies, especially during your Middle Ages.”

Skye stared at Loki with an unfathomable look while James nodded his agreement.

“What do Kree look like?”

Loki shrugged. “I don’t know. They are shape shifters. When I knew them, they looked human, only they were much stronger, such as myself.”

“So, HYDRA had this Diviner and some alien remains during the war,” Skye said, looking ill. “Do you think the remains were Kree?”

“It might be likely, but we’ll never know. I believed all the Kree to have left upon being discovered, but it is not unthinkable that a few remained and continued their experiments.”

“Like our Asgardian friend,” Skye snickered. “Other than not experimenting, well, unless you count the drugs, women, and alcohol.”

Loki rolled his eyes.

“Okay, how come you didn’t know what we were dealing with before today? You spent hours pouring over the pictures from the old files.”

“The photos were not the clearest, due to the technology of the time. I called Agent Carter after reading the file to see if she could remember anything about the items that were not clear in the photos. In the photos it looked like, well, just an obelisk. I did not know the color, besides silver. It lacked the details I needed to realize what it really was. Each time I saw the thing it was glowing yellow because it was active,” Loki explained. “Agent Carter said no one ever touched the thing, they sealed it up and stored it. She remembered in a lot more detail the alien body, mostly because it was only the top half— James, are you all right?”

“Only the top half?” the other man whispered, blue eyes impossibly wide in his pale face.

“Correct.”

James fell backwards from his crouch on the floor next to Loki, landing in an ungraceful heap and cracking his head on the metal seat behind him. Skye scrambled up and over Loki.

“You okay? You’re not bleeding,” Skye said, checking the back of James’ head. “What is with you two?”

James rubbed the back of his head.

“It’s like one of you gets hurt, the other has to out do him,” Skye grumbled, backing away.

“We’re not in competition,” Loki grumbled. “James?”

“The alien Director Coulson and I found. It was only the top half,” James said, looking at Loki with wide, scared eyes. “He was blue, but different than the blue you were, so we knew he wasn’t a Frost Giant. He was blue, but looked quite human yet alien at the same time.”

“So, he was Kree?” Skye asked. “He was found with the Diviner, right?”

Loki slowly nodded. “At the last base Agent Carter and the Howling Commandos raided after V-E Day.”

“What does the Diviner do, Loki? What does it do besides turn people to dust?” Skye demanded, realizing the extent of the trouble they were all in. “That alien’s blood was used to create the serum that makes it possible for the three of us to be here. What does the other thing do? What does the Diviner do!?”

“The Kree altered human genetics, trying to bring out…the supernatural, the things humans ought to never do yet it was written in their genetics they might be able one day.”

Loki felt massively confused. He wished there was something to study in regards to what the three of them had been injected with moments before death (or in James’ case after death) that made any sense and wasn’t simply mumbo jumbo.

“I do not understand how Fury was able to create the…serum he was able to,” Loki groused. “The Kree…they are shape shifters, yes, but they do not have super healing or the means to cheat death.”

“How would them playing with our genetics….bring out supernatural? Are they the reason…is what they did to the humans in the Middle Ages make the whole super human thing possible?” Skye asked.

“Could be,” Triplett said, appearing out of nowhere. He smirked when the trio jumped at the sound of his voice. “Autopilot. Heard Jim crack his head. Don’t need another one of you with a concussion.”

“I am fine,” James insisted.

“So, this obelisk—”

“Diviner.”

“Diviner, okay, what does it do?” Triplett asked, taking a seat near where James was sitting on the floor.

“Yeah,” Skye said, turning to Loki. “What does it do? I don’t need a history lesson on the Kree, what does their Diviner do?”

“It contains Terrigen crystals.”

Three blanks looks met this statement.

“A little more, bro.”

Loki pressed his lips together, wondering how to explain it to humans who’d never studied genetics.

“Simple terms, Lokes,” Triplett said, leaning back. “We don’t need to know how or why you know what you do at the moment, just give it to us simple.”

“Terrigen crystals produce a mutagentic substance. This substance, when exposed to regular humans, ones who aren’t related to those who were altered by the Kree, petrify and die. Those who are descended from those altered, those who had things in their genetic code…altered…they experience something called Terrigensis. They mutate.”

Skye made a face.

Triplett nodded. “They gain powers. Interesting. No wonder HYDRA was into this thing. The Tesseract, this Diviner…all sorts of occult stuff going on with those dudes.”

“So, what? These people who don’t die turn into X-Men?” Skye asked.

“Pardon?” Loki asked. “I feel as if I should know what that is.”

“Mutants,” James breathed. “She means the humans who are…who are altered by the Kree…mutate. _X-Men_ is about mutants who have super powers.”

“Ah, yes. I remember those movies now,” Loki said, nodding and making his head hurt and his vision blur.

“Don’t move your head, Lokes,” Triplett scolded. “When did they make the comics into movies? Where was I for that?”

“Only movies on bizzaro Earth,” Skye said. “Their mutations were started by the dawn of the nuclear age, not some alien race playing around with genetic code for the good of their own race, right? Or am I remembering it wrong?”

“Been a long time since I read the comics. We’re gonna land soon. Get strapped in so all three of you don’t have matching bumps. Best leave the matching set to the twins.”

“We are not twins!” James complained and Loki snapped.

* * *

_Don’t think it’s what you’re afraid of / Come in, you know what’s been made up / Hold you tight, words have a new sound / Reading the signs that just seep out_

_-Bombay Bicycle Club, “Leave It”_

* * *

Leo Fitz didn’t know what to think about Loki. At first he figured it was due to his brain injury, but as the days went by and Loki continued to act like there was nothing wrong with him, Leo began to wonder if there was something wrong with Loki. Well, more than usual.

“Leopold, would you please try this? I’m experimenting with different nut types in my pesto,” Loki said, setting down an ornately plated sandwich.

Leo blinked at it several times, peaking at Loki a little wearily. Loki grabbed up a StarkPad and began to use it to do something as he sat down across the table from Leo. Leo stared at the plate, looking at it from all angles.

“He’s trying to help,” Jemma said from over his shoulder. She leaned around and eyed the sandwich. “I doubt that’s as good as the ones I make you, but you should try it. I heard he’s a great cook. A little experimental, but everything tastes wonderful.”

“You sure?” Leo asked.

“Yes,” Loki and Jemma said in unison.

Leo jolted.

“Look at this,” Loki ordered, handing Leo the StarkPad he’d been working on as well as pushing the plate closer.

“Oh!” Jemma exclaimed. “He did it. He made the cloak—oh, wait. No, he didn’t.”

“Yeah, it’s missing—”

“Correct,” Loki said. “I cannot figure out what is missing. There is no pressure, you can figure it out for me.”

Leo stared at Loki’s shoulder for a solid minute.

“I ca—no.”

“Yes,” Loki said, pushing the plate closer. “And eat.”

Loki strode off, leaving Leo and Jemma alone.

“You should eat it. It looks really good.”

“You eat it,” Leo muttered, looking at the StarkPad and trying to work out what was wrong.

It was there. Just out of reach. So frustrating.

“Eat. Then work,” Jemma suggested.

“Yeah. Okay,” Leo relented, setting the StarkPad down and picking up one half of the sandwich. He peaked at what was on it and saw it was all his favorite things, besides the odd pesto thing Loki had concocted.

“He gave that to you?”

Leo held the sandwich tightly, glancing up as one of the new guys, Mack, leaned on the doorway to the room Leo had hidden himself within.

“Lucky. Skye tried to steal part of it and I was pretty sure he was going to knife her.”

Leo frowned, looking at the sandwich.

“Did you hear?” Mack asked, sitting down at the desk chair across from Leo. “Someone set up some charity in Loki’s name that sells handbags. Handbags that cost $30,000! Honestly. The price people will pay for leather.”

Leo bit down into the sandwich, closing his eyes at the explosion of flavors across his tongue.

Jemma let out a dreamy sigh, which made Leo snap his eyes towards her, but Mack didn’t seem to notice. He went on talking about how bat shit crazy Loki had to have been to buy all those handbags when he clearly didn’t need or want them in the first place.

“I guess he’s lucky his boy’s got a smart friend,” Mack said. “Those noises you are making are indecent, kid. Let me try part of that.”

Leo pushed the other half of the sandwich towards Mack just as Loki walked in and set a plate of cookies on the table. And another sandwich.

“Let Leopold have the other half of his sandwich. You can have one. I’ve decided to like you.”

Mack snorted, but took the plate Loki handed him while pushing the half sandwich back towards Leo.

“Thanks, your highness.”

Loki sniffed, turning on his expensive heels and stalking off.

“Pretty sure he only decided to like me because I like you,” Mack muttered.

“I like you,” Jemma assured. “Those cookies look divine. Do I smell mint?”

“Yeah,” Leo said and Mack snorted.

* * *

_Was I invading in on your secrets / Was I too close for comfort / You’re pushing me out when I wanted in / What was I about to discover_

_-McFly, “Too Close For Comfort”_

* * *

“How long have you been doing this?” Skye demanded angrily.

Jim looked between Coulson, May, Skye, and Loki with pleading eyes. Loki took a few steps closer to the sketchbook that was displayed on the screen and enlarged it. He gasped in horror. 

“And why aren’t Loki and I writing crazy symbols all over the place?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Loki hissed, going over to the stack of sketchbooks that were on Coulson’s desk. Jim watched helplessly as Loki riffled through them. He wasn’t tied to the chair, but Jim felt as if he was.

“I didn’t…tell anyone,” Jim admitted. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it at first.”

“He’s been doing it since the fall of SHEILD,” May flatly stated. “I caught him writing the symbols down in a trance shortly after we took down Garrett.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Skye screeched, rounding on Jim. “Those look like the things Loki drew that were on the Diviner when Huntley touched it!”

“Ah, so that’s why you’re wondering why you and Loki aren’t doing it,” Coulson realized.

“You didn’t think it was related?” Loki inquired angrily.

“No. But, if it’s Kree, then it’s likely from the drug.”

“We already suspected that,” May said, glaring at Coulson. She threw a file at Loki. He caught it. “She’s a little bit dead. Or dead again.”

Loki flipped through the file while Skye tried to look over his shoulder. Jim shrunk back into the chair he was seated in front of Coulson’s desk.

“She was part of the original project. What happened?” Loki demanded.

“What the file says. Found dead recently under another name with those symbols carved into her body. She’s not the first one either. The wider world thinks it’s a serial killer, but I think it’s another member of the initial group,” Coulson explained.

“3-D,” Loki said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Coulson. “That’s what’s wrong with this. It needs to be in 3-D. I’m stupid, so unbelievably stupid lately.”

Everyone stared at Loki blankly.

“2D doesn’t work. The Kree write in 3D, they don’t do two dimensional. That’s why most of their work is carved. Skye, scan these into the computer and have Fitz build a model.”

“You sure?”

“He can do it,” Loki assured. “Doesn’t require him to speak what is on his mind, just do. He’s good at doing. Communicating is the problem.”

“Do it,” Coulson said.

Skye looked at Jim once more before hurrying off. Loki glared at Coulson.

“You knew.”

“I suspected, sure, but neither you or Skye have gone into trances where these symbols start pouring out of your hand. Neither of you have shown any trace of anything out of the ordinary since you received treatment. And we weren’t even sure it was the treatment till May found this serial killer.”

“Skye didn’t suffer nightmares during the process, so maybe—”

“It was the same. Fury didn’t do anything to it between when he gave it to you and we stole it for Skye. I asked.”

“Oh,” Loki breathed, sitting down heavily on the desk. “Oh.”

“What?”

Jim realized the implications as Loki did. They stared at one another.

“I’m…not human.”

“Yes, you are,” Coulson insisted.

“Neither is Skye,” Jim realized, heart tightening in his chest. “How would you be descended from the Kree? You’re a Frost Giant.”

“No. Don’t you understand? I was small for a Frost Giant. Extremely small. Frost Giants are over twenty feet tall. I’m six foot two.”

“You’re tiny,” May dryly said, glaring at him.

“For a Frost Giant, he is tiny. Not even really a midget. How are you alive?” Coulson inquired.

“I cannot be a full blooded Frost Giant, even if I am short. And if I am not full blooded, it makes sense why I was thrown away.”

“Then what are you?” Coulson asked.

“No idea. But something tells me…” Loki trailed off, looking at his hands. “I am tall for a human. A giant even.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Have you met Shaq?” Coulson joked.

“No. But, no, I meant, when I was born. The time period,” Loki clarified. “The average height for the tenth century was roughly five foot seven. A six foot two human being would have looked like a giant.”

“True,” Jim agreed quickly. “I was overly tall for my time. I towered above most men of my era.”

“Okay, are you half Frost Giant?” May asked.

“No,” Jim conceded.

“People of James’ era were averagely shorter than those of the Middle Ages, actually,” Loki offered. “Due to the climate and living conditions, the average height went down considerably. I believe in the early 1900s the average height was five foot six.”

“An inch shorter,” Agent May said, looking unimpressed.

“Why do you know so much average human heights?” Coulson wanted to know.

“I towered over my father,” Jim offered since Loki didn’t look as if he was going to answer. “And brothers. I believe my father was under the assumption I wasn’t his son.”

“Because you were freakishly tall?” Coulson asked, looking a little too interested.

Jim nodded, shifting a little. In today’s world, the taboo things his family never spoke about were fodder for tabloids and soap operas. Still, it felt weird to put it into words, few as they were.

“I have reason to trust his beliefs were correct.”

“Why?” Loki asked sharply, looking as upset as Jim felt bringing this up.

“I looked a little too much like…”

“I see,” Loki said, preventing Jim from having to admit he looked like a famous Shakespearian actor.

His mother was a very large patron of the arts before the family had squandered what was left of their money and had several affairs with actors and other high profile people involved in theater. Jim had met the man Jim suspected to his actual father once when he’d accompanied his mother (against his wishes) to a play at His Majesties’ Theater. Upon meeting the man who owned the theater and who’d also been the lead actor of the play they’d just seen, Jim instantly knew the man had provided the other half of his DNA (not that he’d known what DNA was at the time, but details).

That was when he realized who ones parents happened to be meant little for how one turned out to be, as the actor/theater owner was a rather nice and talented individual, but he had the same flaws Jim had seen within his own parents.

Flaws he despised and vowed to never fall pray to.

“I am also two inches taller than Jim,” Loki proclaimed.

“You are not,” May sneered. “With his hair like that, he’s taller than you.”

“Fine. Okay. Shut up you two. So, Loki’s half-human,” Coulson announced louder than need be. “And when you were made…mortal…you kept your genetics from your mother?”

Loki made a terrible face, which Jim mirrored.

“Please tell me your father wasn’t really twenty feet tall,” Coulson groaned, pinching his nose.

“No, he was short for a Frost Giant,” Loki remembered. “But still rather large for…”

“Well, clearly she lived in order for you to be born,” May offered, looking uncomfortable.

“I think I’ll go see how Skye is doing,” Coulson said, leaping up and running from the office, leaving Loki, May, and Jim alone.

“How many people are left?” Loki quietly asked, picking the folder up and looking through it.

“Besides you three? Two. We’re not sure which one is the killer,” May ground through gritted teeth. She hated sharing information with Loki more than anyone else within SHIELD.

“Is this the reason you did not wish to train Jim?”

“Yes.”

Jim frowned, looking at Loki. “You train me.”

“I offered when May refused,” Loki said, fingering the sketch books on the desk. “Why are you spouting off all these images? And in a trance?”

No one spoke.

* * *

_I play for keeps, ‘cause I might not make it back / I’ve been everywhere, and still I’m standing tall_

_-Bon Jovi, “Wanted Dead or Alive”_

* * *

Only one of the former TAHITI (The Alien Hidden In The Incubator, clever SHIELD, clever) patients had an address. The other who wasn’t dead was a former SHEILD assassin, who likely had been HYDRA.

“We’ve got to go to the other guy’s house. He’s got kids, a family,” Skye said, outraged.

“Where is Jim?” Coulson asks, looking around.

“He was just here,” Skye insisted.

“Loki’s gone as well,” May said, folding her arms across her chest and standing in the doorway to Coulson’s office.

“Oh, crap,” Skye said, throwing down the file folder on the man with the family. “Loki can’t just magic them out—”

“Quinjet just took off without clearance,” Morse said, appearing next to May.

Coulson cursed darkly and charged out of the office.

* * *

_Beware of pretty faces that you find / A pretty face can hide an evil mind / Oh, be careful what you say / Or you’ll give yourself away_

_-Johnny Rivers, “Secret Agent Man”_

* * *

Hank Thompson had been having a perfectly normal day when two outrageously good looking men (he loved his wife to the moon and back, but was comfortable stating these two were more than easy on the eyes and seemingly almost too good looking to be real) invaded his home, told him he was in danger, insisted they were not related (like hell, they were totally brothers), he was knocked out and then tied up by another stranger who then began shouting about something that made no sense, and his wife and son were locked in a closet in their own home. Oh, and he was in a hella lot of pain that the mad guy claimed would awaken his memories of a life when he was James Bond.

“You had them removed. We all had them removed against our wills,” the mad man declared. He whirled around on the brothers and said, “These two haven’t, for some unknown reason. They are allowed to remember they are apart of something glorious. Do you know what the writing means?”

He ripped open his shirt. Hank couldn’t see what the hell he was showing the brothers, but the blue eyed one paled and the green eyed one looked disgusted.

“You’re insane. And coming from me, that’s saying something,” the green eyed one who claimed to be named Thomas said.

“Did you carve that into your chest yourself?” the blue eyed one asked. His name was Jim. Or James. He introduced himself as Agent Jim Nicholls, but Thomas called him James.

“They’re not carved, you posh British idiot. It’s a tattoo. Do they not have those in your neck of the woods?”

Jim blinked a few times, but didn’t reply.

“He’s not from here,” Thomas drawled.

“Nor are you,” reminded Jim, glaring at Thomas out of the side of his eye.

Hank worked on his bonds, feeling them loosening. He was sure the brothers were purposely keeping the mad man distracted so Hank could free himself, as if he was who they claimed he likely knew how to do it.

And this seemed to be the case as he worked himself free without really thinking about it and if someone had asked him this morning if he could untie himself with both hands bound behind his back, he’d’ve laughed in their face.

“I am from nowhere, no wait. I’m really not. Did you know that nowhere actually is a place?”

“Not now, Thomas,” Jim snapped.

“I think I should shoot one of you, but I’m not sure which of you is more annoying.”

Hank’s hands were free.

Wow.

“I think I’ll start with you. You’ve been drawing them, haven’t you? You freaked when you saw them,” the mad man declared, dragging Jim off by his curly hair.

Thomas turned his attention immediately to Hank.

“Are you free?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Thomas stood fluidly.

“Did he not restrain you?”

“He tried. No mortal can restrain me,” Thomas proclaimed in a manner that sounded a little braggish, but then he looked heartbroken and shook his head. “Well, except one maybe. But Sebastian Derik is not him. James and I will neutralize Derik. You go to your family. Also, might I ask, have you been drawing, writing, or— wait.”

They were in the barn, where the model railroad was displayed. He’d been working on it for three years, since he had moved to this house in the country. Which would have been shortly after he had ended his treatment with SHEILD and had his brain erased— if what the mad man claimed was true. 

Thomas took off without another word and Hank hurried to the house but halted as soon as he exited the barn. Behind him he could hear the noise of the three men battling it out, but that wasn’t what stopped him. What stopped him was the sight of a huge black SUV pulling into his driveway and stopping behind the little red car the brothers had arrived in. Out poured more people all dressed in black.

“Where are they?” demanded a middle aged man in a suit.

“In there.”

“Thanks. You know the drill,” he informed the people behind him, who hurried forward.

Hank watched the other two people pulling out guns and getting ready to enter the barn. Something familiar tugged inside Hank, but he shook it off. He was a family man now and he liked his life. He had no desire to become James Bond.

He didn’t even like James Bond.

* * *

_And dreams came around you in a hazy rain / You open your mouth wide to feel them fall / And I write you a letter, from a one-way train / But I don’t think you’ll read it at all_

_-Something Corporate, “Globes and Maps”_

* * *

“James was trying to solve a puzzle. They all were, but because you all deal in 2D, none of you could solve it. Mr Thomspon, though, he dealt in the 3D, so he saw it long before he started carving. Though, I guess technically, he was doing something to get the message out, he only never realized it and once he as saw it, he did not care.”

“Well, what is it?” Skye demanded, folding her arms across her chest, glaring between Jim and Loki.

They looked more related than normal since Loki had gone out in public and when he did that he wore a wig that looked alarmingly like Jim’s hair only brown not blond. He still had the wig on and between the matching suits…Skye didn’t know they could deny they looked like twins.

“It’s a map,” Jim trumpeted.

He was still giddy from figuring it out. He was honestly bouncing on his heels and smiling like an idiot.

Simmons sighed.

Skye wasn’t sure how she could deny Jim had Smile Power when she kept falling under it if her dreamy sigh was anything to go by and the fact Fitz didn’t look like he wanted to kill Jim like he did Tripp when Tripp flirted with Simmons.

“We’ve rendered a 3D model,” Loki went on, using the halo-table to put an image up before them. “We knew we needed to put this in 3D, due to the fact the writing is Kree and they work in the 3D, but we didn’t know the order because James wasn’t writing it properly. Mr Thompson, though, knew the right order because he was thinking in 3D to build his model.”

“The train table,” Morse guessed.

They had let the rest of the team in on the secret, mostly because it was kind of noticeable when Jim and Loki stole a jet. And Lola.

Skye wasn’t sure why they took a Quinjet and Lola. Yeah, Lola could fly, but not very fast. Loki had claimed he couldn’t resist from taking Lola, since he’d been instructed not to touch. Even Skye knew not to tell Loki not to touch something if you didn’t want him to touch it at some point.

Well, she guessed that was likely the reason they’d taken Lola.

“How does this help us?” Simmons asked, eyeing the map Loki had displayed before them.

“Well, it gives a blueprint of what we’re looking for,” Loki replied. “This is a Kree city. They built a few and each was buried, either by the Kree themselves or simply by human improvement.”

“Where should we start looking?” Coulson asked.

“Everywhere,” Loki grumbled, not looking pleased. “We’ll need access to some satellites and scan the whole planet. I knew where the cities were at the time, but in relation to where they are now? I’m at a loss.”

“The continents haven’t drifted that much,” Skye pointed out.

“No, but cities have lived and died, countries have grown and prospered, withered and failed. And you must remember, these cities are underground. Since being abandoned, they might have crumbled. Using a satellite, like the one say at an airbase in Hawaii, would allow us to see if one city still stands and where it is.”

“Well, the government already hates us,” Coulson sighed deeply. “Let’s do this thing before HYDRA figures it out first.”

* * *

_I grew up lonesome on the open range / And that cold North wind can make a man feel strange_

_-Lyle Lovett, “Don’t Touch My Hat”_

* * *

The city was in Puerto Rico.

And Skye did not want to go. After her nightmare about the hidden city, she was completely frightened of what it might hold when they actually found it.

“We shouldn’t go,” Skye muttered. “We should just leave it alone.”

Skye flexed her fingers, turning her hands over. She shivered and looked at Jim.

“We have to go,” Jim quietly assured her, gently squeezing her shoulder quickly before stepping out of arm’s reach. “HYDRA is defiantly interested if what Coulson learned from The Doctor is true and we do not wish for anything to fall into HYDRA’s hands.”

“That is just wrong,” Loki insisted. “He should not use that moniker. It insults The Doctor.”

“He is a doctor.”

“He is not,” Skye insisted, shuddering and remembering the “surgery” they’d discovered. “Are you sure you can’t come with me?”

“Yes. We’re going with Coulson to the city.”

Skye sighed, finishing putting her gear together to go protect Raina from HYDRA. Not an assignment she was looking forward to, but nonetheless one she would do. It also meant she didn’t have to go to the city. (Though, she’d likely end up there at the end of the day knowing her luck.)

“Be safe,” Jim quietly said.

“I will if you will,” Skye promised.

Jim smiled.

* * *

_I get high, and I love to get low / So, the hearts keep breaking and the heads just roll / You know that’s how the story goes_

_-Ellie King, “Ex’s & Oh’s” _

* * *

“I hate you.”

“No, you do not.”

“Yes. I detest you quite a bit. Hate isn’t even a strong enough word for my feelings towards you right now.”

Jim sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead.

“It’s true. I abhor you. Loathe you. You repel me.”

“Loki.”

“Execrate.”

Jim sighed deeply.

“Fine. I don’t hate you. I despise the heat. I should have gone with Skye to Vancouver, much cooler and less humid.”

“It is,” Jim agreed, “but the action is here and she is on her way. So, you’d still wind up in the here at the end of the day.”

“I hate you and your craziness.”

“I am not crazy.”

“You’re a human being.”

“And you are not?”

“No. And that’s that.”

“Is Loki in a mood?” Morse asked, coming to rest next to them alongside the wall they were leaning on over looking the water.

“He is hot,” Jim allowed. “I suggested he join Simmons and Fitz, but he insisted on standing here staring at the ocean.”

“It’s cooler,” Loki insisted. “Also…”

“That place gives us a strange feeling,” Jim filled in.

“They found a shaft that goes down,” Morse offered. “I didn’t stay to find out what is down there, as someone had to come check on you two clowns. But, I’m sure exciting things are happening.”

Loki snorted as a screech and a tinny voice shouted, “MORSE!”

Morse jumped a little, but put her hand to her ear and asked, “What?”

The little tinny voice said something unclear before she nodded. She removed her hand from her ear and stared at Jim and Loki.

“Let’s go. Something’s happened to Mack. Where are your coms?”

“I turned mine off,” Loki said, flapping his hand as he jogged after Morse. “And Jim can’t figure out how to turn his on still.”

* * *

_Don’t, don’t, don’t let’s start / This is the worst part / Could believe for all the world that you’re my precious little girl_

_-They Might Be Giants, “Don’t Start”_

* * *

Information overload. That’s what was happening.

That man could not be her father. Death followed him everywhere he went.

She shuddered.

She’d touched the Divinder and wasn’t dead.

What he’d told her earlier was true. What Raina had said on the Bus was true.

Information overload.

“So, what are we going to do?”

Closing her eyes and praying to whatever she was elsewhere, that’s what she was doing. What the hell Ward did wasn’t her problem.

She was tied up with Grant Ward.

Her life was…bizarre. They should make a TV show about it.

“I’m free,” Ward proclaimed. “Should I free you?”

“Sure.”

“Will you shoot me?”

“I don’t have a gun.”

Ward regarded her a moment before standing and starting to untie her hands. She should be able to weasel her way out of the binds, but she was tired. And dealing with information overload. She was never going to have time to really think things through, think about how she felt about finding out who and what her father really was. Why couldn’t Coulson be her dad?

She’d never admit it, but she’d had dreams and day dreams where the man was her father. He’d make a good one. Not that he’d ever settle down after the whole…cellist in Portland. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but the woman thought Coulson was dead. Why, Skye had no idea. She thought it was kind of dumb, but then again, romantic relationships and agents of SHEILD didn’t go together Skye was learning.

Kind of tragic, but oh well.

“Thanks,” Skye said, rubbing her wrists.

“Okay, let’s go finish this together,” Ward said, bending over to pick up a gun someone had left behind at some point.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Skye pulled a gun out of her back pocket the HYDRA agents had missed when she’d been frisked and shot Ward in the stomach. He fell to the ground.

Skye stared at him, the man she had thought she could build a life with, build something with. She really wanted to feel bad for shooting him in the stomach, but she couldn’t muster the strength or emotion. She said nothing as she left him in search of her father, who called himself Calvin Zabo as the man he’d been when he had named her Daisy Johnson had died with her mother.

She swallowed thickly. She hurried through the various halls till the sounds of struggle drew her towards a large open foyer where Coulson and Zabo were struggling. Whitehall was dead on the ground, forgotten. He had a hole in head.

Well, good.

“Stop it!” Skye shouted, putting the gun in front of her steadily and aiming it at Zabo. Zabo paused in his quest to kill Coulson and stared at her wide eyed. “I will kill you if don’t get lost. Leave now.”

Zabo dropped Coulson, who fell to the floor and coughed a few times before he stood and slowly moved towards Skye, a weary look in his eyes.

“Walk away forever, or I will kill you next time I see you,” she promised.

Coulson looked concerned, but she ignored him. Zabo glared at Coulson before looking back at Skye. He put both hands up and smiled sadly.

“You’ll come to me once you transform. You’ll have questions. You’ll come to me. He won’t accept you after. Later,” he waved and ran down the stairs. Skye went over and glanced down to make sure he was really going. A door slamming somewhere signaled he was gone. Skye lowered her gun.

“What did he mean when you transform?” Coulson asked quietly. “I’ll always accept you. Unless you turn into a HYDRA agent.”

“I touched the Diviner and didn’t die. It lit up,” Skye admitted. “So, Loki’s right.”

“Well, okay. That’s fine. We’ll figure it out.”

“Let’s not talk about this. HYDRA was drilling into the city and I gotta…I gotta put things right. They took Raina with them and she can touch the Diviner just like me,” Skye explained, heading for the stairs.

“SKYE!” she heard Coulson shout from behind her.

She ignored him and ran down the stairs the same way Zabo had gone. She found the entry to the basement easily as no one in the halls. That didn’t bode well. Then again, HYDRA wasn’t known for its bravery. Skye skidded into the room with the drill and saw it wasn’t on any longer. There was a huge, open hole and the Diviner was gone.

“Raina,” Skye moaned and leapt down the hole.

She landed with a soft thump and ran forward. She followed dusty footprints till she found Raina, holding the Diviner. For some reason Mack led Raina further into the city. Skye silently followed.

* * *

_It’s the moment of truth, and the moment to lie / The moment to live and the moment to die / The moment to fight, the moment to fight_

_-30 Seconds to Mars, “This is War”_

* * *

“Bombs are all set,” Triplett reported, grabbing onto the rope to hook himself up to be raised up.

“Skye and Raina are still in the city,” May reported from her end. “Coulson’s gone after Skye. Don’t blow the city up!”

Triplett cursed and ran off before anyone could say anything.

“Tripp!” Simmons shouted, jerking forward.

“I’ll go,” Loki said as James grabbed onto Simmons to prevent her from falling down the hole.

Without heed for his poor hands, Loki leapt forward and grabbed onto the cable that lowered them up and down. His hands burned and tore as he flew downwards, but he ignored it. He’d had worse pain. He crashed into the ground, stumbled a little before he running in the other direction so Triplett didn’t have to run to all the bombs to defuse them. Loki defused two before he came across Triplett.

“I’ll go find Skye.”

“No. I will. You go back. If something happens down here, you’re not protected. I am.”

“How do you know?”

“I never had the compulsion to write or draw.”

Triplett gave him a look and in a single look Loki knew the man wouldn’t go back.

“If you die it’s your own fault.”

“I’ll walk it off,” Triplett assured, turning and running off.

Loki followed, knowing for some reason Triplett was going the right way.

“There!” Triplett shouted, pointing towards a stone room where the walls were moving.

Loki instantly knew what the room was for and pushed Triplett hard into the wall. The man crashed to the ground before he could leap into the room. Loki, planning on leaping in and grabbing Skye before anything happened, jumped forward. However, before he was able to grab Skye and pull her out of the room he found his feet flew out from under him and the stone wall slam shut behind him.

Loki let out a bellow of outrage.

Raina glared at him, but said nothing. More important things were happening, as the Diviner was glowing and opening up. Soon mist filled the room. Loki tried to hold his breath, but knew it was pointless. He looked helplessly at Skye from his position on the floor while she wore a freaked out expression.

“See you on the other side,” Raina teased as stone began to encase them all.

The next thing Loki knew was everything was freezing cold, which made no sense as they were in the Caribbean. Even underground it was still warmer than Loki cared for. He felt something cracking around him and shivered.

“Loki!” Skye shouted and suddenly the whole room began to shake and Loki screamed upon seeing blue hands connected to his arms.

* * *

_Each time things start to happen again / I think I got something good goin’ for myself / But what goes wrong_

_-The Beach Boys, “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”_

* * *

Phil stumbled to a stop as the ground shook and landed on top of Triplett, who was rubbing his elbow and looking pissed.

“Skye and Loki are in there,” Triplett reported. “I’d be in there too, but Loki pushed me into the wall so hard you’d think he was still a god.”

“Asgaridan. Not a god,” Phil corrected. The ground shook again.

“Think this city will stand?”

“Yeah. It has for thousands of years,” Phil reasoned.

The stone wall in front of them disintegrated in a combination of ice and rock to reveal Skye standing alone in the room looking completely scared out of her mind. She whirled around a few times, searching for something.

“Where’s Raina?” she demanded.

“No one’s come out. There were two major earthquakes. Maybe she got buried?”

The whole room they’d been in was crumbled around where Skye was standing with a huge block of ice. The Diviner was gone.

“Uh, where’s Loki?” Phil asked, already knowing the answer.

“He’s in that block of ice. He kind of made it himself,” Skye weakly answered. “His hands were blue.”

She appeared resigned to her fate.

“Frost Giants are blue,” Phil offered. “And he’s part Frost Giant. So, the ice makes sense.”

“Does it?” Triplett asked. “What the hell is going on?”

Skye rubbed her arms and looked uncomfortable. “Where’s Raina? She was in here with us.”

Phil looked around again to make sure he didn’t see her. She wouldn’t have gotten far as there were only two ways to go, through Phil and Triplett or to the left. Phil hadn’t seen anyone go to the left.

“She’s likely buried. We’ll get people down here to clean up then we’ll blow this place up like we originally planned. Let’s get out of here, though.”

The ice around Loki cracked, showering everyone with ice and leaving a shivering Loki sitting in puddle behind. Phil expected him to completely blue, but he was not. He was staring at his hands and bare feet as if they were someone else's. His panic mounted the longer he stared, his breaths coming out in short bursts. Skye knelt down next to him, reached out and gasped, quickly drawing her hand back. Loki looked up and asked, “Please tell me my face isn’t blue. Do I have horns? Oh god, I have horns.”

“No. Your eyes are red. And you’re radiating cold.”

Loki scrambled up and away from Skye, tripping over the rubble and landing ungracefully on his butt at Phil’s feet. A thick layer of frost followed him. Loki looked fearfully through ruby red eyes at Phil and Phil stared at them in wonder.

“They’re very pretty, I’m not sure why you’re upset,” Phil said.

Loki scrambled to his feet, not seeming to notice the frost he was standing on. “Lord Voldemort had red eyes.”

“So do you. Are you Lord Voldemort now? You have a nose.”

Loki’s blue hand flew to his nose and he screamed, quickly dropping his hand to reveal his now black tipped nose. Tears flowed down his face and he stared at his hands in betrayal.

“Well, shit,” Triplett breathed.

“I’m a Frost Giant! I’m a Frost Giant!” Loki babbled, his voice getting higher. The frost under his feet turned to ice and icicles burst out of his hands, shattering on the ground at Phil’s and Triplett’s feet. Triplett jumped backwards, while Phil stayed planted.

Skye took a few shaky steps forward, her hand outstretched, but Loki screamed and fell backwards, scrambling away from them all, his hands and feet not slipping on the ice forming under him. He stopped suddenly and toppled backwards, falling silent. The ice didn’t melt. May appeared out of the shadows and stepped around Loki’s ice trail, looking at Loki with distrust.

“Mind telling me what happened?” she asked, eyes glued to Loki’s still form.

“Loki’s a Frost Giant?” Phil guessed.

May blinked.

“The Diviner turned part of him into a Frost Giant?” Phil tried.

“Whose gonna tell him when he wakes up his hair is white?” Triplett asked, coming to stand near Loki’s bare blue feet. “Not it.”

“Not it,” both Phil and May quickly said.

Skye looked between them all before saying, “Seriously? You just tranqued him, his hands and feet are blue, his eyes are red, he encased himself in ice for some reason, left a trail of ice in his panicked retreat, is radiating cold like whoa, and you’re worried about who will tell him what color is hair is?”

“You clearly don’t know him very well,” Jim’s voice sounded from behind. Phil turned to find Jim, Simmons, Fitz, Mack, and Morse. Mack appeared to be back to himself again. Morse was standing close, while Fitz kept patting him on the arm. Mack, himself, looked befuddled and kept rubbing his head.

“Found him wandering around looking confused,” Morse offered. “Hunter’s topside.”

Phil nodded.

“Is he okay?” Simmons asked, gasping when she noticed Loki’s bare feet and hands.

“I think so,” Phil offered while May glared at him.

“He’s got blue hands and feet,” Morse stated flatly. “And he’s surrounded by ice. In the Caribbean.”

“He’s naturally blue and icy?” Phil tried again.

Morse mirrored May’s expression.

“Don’t touch the blue or you’ll look like his nose,” Phil warned when he noticed Simmons reaching out for Loki.

Simmons gasp, with drawing her hand from Loki’s and going for his nose. “It looks as if he’s gotten frost bite. Oh, he is rather cold. Even the bits that aren’t blue.”

Phil turned to look at Jim, who wasn’t looking at Loki like the rest of them, but worriedly at Skye, who was now staring at her own hands looking scared. Phil internally frowned.

“Grab him under the armpits,” Mack suggested to Triplett. “Fitz and I’ll get a leg.”

The trio stepped forward and hoisted Loki up, slowly making their way through the crowd towards the entrance SHIELD used to enter the temple city.

“This is bad,” May proclaimed.

“Let’s get Skye back to the Bus,” Simmons said, looking sideways at Skye. “Best see if you’ve been infected with whatever Loki has been clearly infected with.”

Jim and Skye both stiffened.

“She’s not infected with anything,” Phil proclaimed, putting a hand on Skye’s shoulder and giving her a squeeze. Jim picked his way over the rubble to where Skye was standing and took her hand off her other arm and held it tightly. Phil let go and allowed Jim to lead Skye away. Simmons followed after them, taking Morse with her. May came and stood next to Phil.

“Don’t say it. I won’t accept it.”

May didn’t say anything.

* * *

_And these children that you spit on / As they try to change their worlds / Are immune to your consultation / They’re quite aware of what they’re going through_

_-David Bowie, “Changes”_

* * *

Simmons was the first one to discover Raina (and not die at her hand). The cockroach of a woman had not died in the cave-in of the stone room. After seeing Raina’s face and her strength (and the trail of bodies), Simmons believed now more than before there was a contagious disease on the loose and Reina and Loki had been infected, hence their new appearances.

Thus, Skye was still in isolation and left to worry they’d find out she had changed and was “infected.”

“They’re going to reject me. What the hell are we going to do?”

Skye turned towards Loki who was strapped to a bed so he wouldn’t accidentally touch his non-blue skin and leave himself further deformed. Loki hadn’t uttered a word since he’d woken up. He’s remained motionless and stared blankly at the ceiling, leaving Skye alone with her thoughts.

“I mean, I know we’re not infected. You explained when you figured out what the silver thing was, what it did. It transforms those with Kree DNA or whatever. We’ve both got Kree DNA. It turned you blue and made me…shake things.”

“Shake things?”

Skye jumped.

Jim glanced between Skye and the all but dead Loki. He swallowed and took another step closer. Fitz was behind him, looking unsure.

“You’re different,” Fitz stated, wringing his hands. “I fixed your watch. It…it…you…”

He got frustrated. Skye felt her heartbeat race and a light bulb shattered above her head, making everyone (except Loki) jump.

“Oh.”

Fitz raced off without saying anything else.

“Where’s he going?”

“Likely to change the results of your blood sample Simmons took,” Jim said. “He pieced together what occurred in the temple and came to me. You caused the earthquake and your heartbeat was…inhuman.”

Jim looked worriedly between Skye and Loki.

“I was never human,” Loki’s emotionless voice sounded.

Skye’s heart broke a little for him, but at the same time she was excited. He was speaking. They could have conversations instead of her standing around talking to herself.

“Did you wish to be human?” Jim quietly asked. “You were most upset at the loss of your…former status.”

“I lost my magic. That’s what I was upset about. Bruce and I were working on it.”

“He’s talking!” Skye whispered excitedly.

“Now I’m just a freak,” Loki muttered. “A monster who freezes everything he touches.”

Skye was glad no one had shown Loki a mirror, as his nose was a mess and according to Simmons there wasn’t much they could do without major surgery to replace the missing bits. She then said they didn’t have any extra skin lying around to make him new bits, then babbled about making some and vanished.

Also, white hair.

At least he wouldn’t need the wig when he left base.

But, the point was, he kinda looked like a monster, between the red eyes and black hole where his nose ought to be. Poor guy.

Jim sat on the chair right outside the containment area and worried his bottom lip. Loki went silent. Skye sat on the bed and twisted her hands together till Fitz returned, looking a little nervous.

“I changed the results,” Fitz proclaimed, coming to a stop next to Jim. He rocked back and forth and kept smoothing his hands over one another. “Your results match what Jemma got from Raina and Loki. You’re…”

“Not human,” Skye sighed deeply. “Kinda figured.”

“You’re human,” Jim maintained, a stubborn set to his mouth Skye had never witnessed. “You’ve got got Kree…alternations.”

Skye raised her eyebrows, but did not argue with him. 

“Different is a good thing,” Fitz insisted. “You’re not contagious and don’t need to be in there.”

“Simmons would say otherwise,” Skye darkly muttered.

“She’s wrong,” Fitz declared, looking right at Skye and making eye contact with her for the first time since his accident over a year ago. Skye’s heart swelled. “Different is good.”

Tears roll down her cheeks and the chair scrap across the floor. Without realizing what they were doing, Skye suddenly found herself with Fitz and Jim both seated next to her on the bed, Fitz awkwardly patted her leg while Jim put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her gently to his side. She happily collapsed into him.

It was the first human contact she’d had since she’d been put in here. She cried harder into Jim’s shoulder.

“Loki…” Skye choked out.

“I’m fine,” Loki insisted.

Skye sniffed. “No, you’re not. We’ve got to figure out a way for you not to freeze everything you touch. Then you’re giving me a hug and we will be different together. And we will totally rock it.”

Jim chuckled, smoothing her hair away from her face (a rather bold move for him) while Fitz nodded, patting her leg faster.

“I’ll start on that now. I’ve got the readings. I can do it.”

Fitz hopped off the bed and scurried out of the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

“Simmons said if your results are clear you will be free to leave tomorrow morning,” Jim whispered, hand now resting on her cheek and sweeping up tears with his large thumb. “And I’m sure as soon as we have shoes and gloves that will aid Loki, he’ll be let go as well.”

“It’s safer for everyone with me here as I am.”

“You are such a drama queen, Lokes,” Skye sighed, sniffing. Jim dropped his hand, his eyes wide as if he had just realized what he’d been doing. Skye finished wiping her eyes herself and patted Jim on the knee. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“Frost Giants are the monsters they tell children about at night to keep them in line.”

“You’re not a monster.”

Loki darkly laughed. “Aren’t I?”

“No.”

“You once thought so.”

“I never thought you were a monster. I thought you were insane and should be kept on a Captain America leash. Then I got to know you. You’re weird, don’t get me wrong, and you’re kind of an asshole, but you were never a monster. Well, unless you’re a Muppet.”

“Pardon?”

“Then you might be Oscar the Grouch,” Skye declared. “Those Muppets call themselves monsters, right? Like Elmo, Telly, and Rosita. Oh, and Cookie Monster. Oscar is a Grouch Monster, right?”

“How do you know so much about _Sesame Street?_ ” Jim asked.

“I like it. So sue me.”

“I’m going to sleep. Leave me alone,” Loki decreed.

“I’ll return in the morning,” Jim said, pushing himself swiftly from the bed and straightening out his crisp button down and cardigan combo.

“Where’s Coulson?” Skye asked. “I haven’t seen him sit here with you lately.”

“They’re taking out HYDRA,” Jim replied, going to the door and quietly shutting it. It hissed before locking. “Coulson ought to be back tomorrow.”

* * *

_Contagious as you think I am / Just tilt my sun towards your domain / Your cup runneth over again_

_-Collective Soul, “December”_

* * *

“He thinks we should all be killed.”

“Lady Sif would likely agree, especially in my case,” Loki pointed out bitterly.

They hadn’t let Loki out when Sif had been found wandering around without any knowledge of who she was or why she was here. After she’d remembered, to appease Sif, the team had moved Loki’s hospital bed into one of their containment cells. (Partly because upon seeing her, Loki had gotten into a verbal spat with her and wound up shooting ice out his feet and hands in her direction while still strapped down. She jumped out of the way, so she was fine, but Skye was sure she’d have killed Loki if she could have gotten away with it.) (Likely having the wrath of Thor and Captain America after her prevented her from killing him. And his nose was already a mess so she couldn’t break it again. Seeing him locked up in a tiny, soundproof room gave her sick satisfaction, though.) Skye had joined Loki upon learning she had no control over her powers— just like Loki. She’d broken a few bones in her arms in her attempt to control her powers as well as shattered a few windows in an outburst, so she’d come down during her breakdown and iced herself.

Coulson had looked heartbroken as she’d done it.

“At least you don’t shoot ice out of your hands and feet,” Loki groused.

“Hey, that was kind of funny. That’s the most action I’ve seen out of you since you encased yourself in ice.”

Loki darkly glared at her.

“And Sif was pissed,” Skye laughed. “It was hilarious.”

“I will admit, I enjoy tormenting her.”

“Hence why she punched you last time she was here. Pretty sure she’d do it again if you hadn’t frozen your own nose off.”

“Don’t remind me. It feels…strange not to have a proper nose. I wish…”

“You want plastic surgery on that pretty, little nose of yours?”

“I do not want a nose job. I need one. I look like a freak enough as it is, but at least Fitz is working on something to hide that aspect of my transformation. If only he could build me a natural looking nose.”

“Wonder if they’ll make something for me?”

“Likely. They like you.”

“You’ve gotten to them,” Skye assured the grumpy man.

“No one likes me.”

“Steve likes you. Steve likes you a like whoa.”

Loki looked away from her.

“Jim likes you, your best friend likes you, I’m pretty sure Stark grudgingly likes you, Bruce Banner loves you,” Skye offered. “I mean, seriously. I’ve heard your Skype convos. You two are totally in love with one another and whatever you’re doing.”

“Shut up.”

Skye smirked. “And I like you, even if you are a total weirdo.”

Loki sighed.

“Fitz likes you. I bet he’d like you more if he could talk to you properly. I mean, he’s getting better at talking. But, he likes that you don’t treat him like he’s less than he was, even if you didn’t know him before his accident very well. I mean, it’s different than with Mack. Mack did not ever know him before the accident, but you did, yet you still treat him the same. He likes that. He likes you.”

The silence stretched and Skye sighed sadly.

“I’m going to shut up now.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Wait for them to fix us. They’ll figure it out.”

“What if they don’t?” Loki asked.

“Then we learn to live with it. I mean, there’s others out there. I mean, there has to be, right? Zabo said there were others, like my mother. People go through this transformation on purpose, according to him. And there’s not a ton of freaky things happening. So, there’s gotta be a way to control these…things, right?”

Loki didn’t reply. Skye waited a few minutes before leaning against the wall and sliding down, staring off into the distance. In here, she was unable to hear the team arguing about their fate. Having the whole team hear an actual Kree tell the tale of how people like her and Loki came into existence and how the Kree saw them and disposed of them…it stung.

“Hunter joined SHIELD finally,” Skye offered, crawling to hide under Loki’s bed. “I think he and Bobbi are sleeping together.”

This got a snort from above her head. She smiled up at under belly of the bed and settled in to hear Loki’s take on the divorced couple.

* * *

_I am going through hell / And nothing can save me but the sound of your voice / You cut out all the noise_

_-Maroon 5, “How”_

* * *

“Well, at least we’ve got gloves,” Skye grumbled, staring at the gauntlets Simmons had made. They felt like they were pressing heavy weights against her wrists, but the earthquakes stopped at least.

“Lovely.”

Loki looked down at his feet and hands distastefully. Skye wasn’t going to tell him, but his shoes were really ugly. His gloves looked like hers only with fingers.

“Hey, you stopped shooting ice out of your limbs and you can touch yourself,” Skye snickered.

Loki sent her a dark look and sighed. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“You weren’t a part of the fight Zabo orchestrated, but watching. What caused you distress?”

Skye looked away.

“Everyone returned, no one died.”

“Coulson hit one of them,” Skye whispered, sitting down on Loki’s bed in his quarters. He was pacing the room, getting his muscles to work right again after being immobile for so long. Or being unable to actually walk without freezing the floor.

“What was the man doing before Coulson hit him?”

“Begging for Coulson not to hit him.”

“But Coulson didn’t listen?”

Skye shook her head.

Loki stopped pacing and stood at attention.

“He was so…angry. He hit him really hard.”

Loki regarded her for a long moment before speaking.

“You were threatened directly by your own birth father. I’m not sure you really realize the amount of affection Director Coulson holds for you, Skye. You were not the first person he picked up off the side of the road and brought into the fold, but you hold a special place.”

Skye scrunched up her nose. “What do you mean?”

Loki smiled so softly he looked alien. “You’re the daughter he never had. He’s surrounded by killers and secret agents. While you became an agent of SHEILD, you never needed to be saved.”

Skye frowned.

“You only needed to belong.”

Skye narrowed her eyes.

“Natasha Romanov needed saving. Clint Barton needed direction and saving from himself,” Loki quietly said. “I needed to be saved from myself as well. May is his best friend and confidant. Fitz and Simmons both have loving families back home. The others have all been agents for so long it’s all they know. It’s all Coulson really knows, but there is something within that needs to take care of someone, who needs…”

“To be a dad?”

“In a sense, yes. Coulson takes care of people, saves them from themselves. You’re different because you never needed saving. You were looking for something. You’re nothing like anyone he’s met.”

Skye avoided Loki’s red gaze and stared at her feet. Now that Loki had pointed it out, she saw how much Coulson cared and it was more than he cared for the others. Not to say he didn’t care about the rest of the team, but it was different.

“Well, he might care but he’s still pulled me from active duty.”

“Wonderful, you can keep me company.”

Skye looked up to find Loki giving her a creepily pleased smile and sighed deeply. “Oh, goody. Are we going to play board games?”

They in fact did play board games. Loki had a rather large collection for someone who’d run away from home with a single suitcase.

* * *

_Ruled by bureaucracy / Controlled by civil servants / And people dressed in grey / Got no privacy, got no liberty_

_-The Kinks, “20_ _ th _ _Century Man”_

* * *

“Did Bruce suggest this?”

“Doctor Banner has no idea that you’re here,” Phil said, looking between the pair. “It’s Hulk proof, so it should stand up to the pair of you. I just want to keep you both safe.”

Skye had been behaving strangely towards him since the incident at the high school, while Loki was his usual bitter self. Well, his new usual bitter self. His bitterness was different than the bitterness he’d carried when he’d arrived a year before to join the team. Phil sighed deeply and pleadingly looked between the two.

“Yeah, safe,” Skye snickered in a good imitation of Loki.

Loki snorted.

“Everyone is after us, Coulson,” Skye said, rounding on him. “And your answer is to hide us in the woods.”

Phil let out a lot of air through his nose quickly and did not sigh. He looked between the pair before saying once again they’d be safer here and taking his leave.

He hoped he was right.

* * *

_It always take one to know one stranger / Maybe we’re just wiser now / And been around the block so many times / That we don’t notice that we’re all just perfect strangers_

_-Tom Waits, “I Never Talk To Strangers”_

* * *

It took an hour before Skye cracked.

“OMG I AM SO BORED.”

“In my bag.”

Skye scampered across the room to where Loki had dumped his bag. She dug out his laptop and let out a sigh of relief when it connected to internet somewhere.

“Does this magically find internet everywhere like Sam’s on _Supernatural_?”

“Pardon?” Loki asked, looking up from the scary book he was reading. It was huge, filled with tiny print. Skye had tried to read over his shoulder, but couldn’t take it.

“This thing finds internet no matter where you are,” Skye said. “Right?”

“No. Bruce has wifi,” Loki said, looking perplexed. “He might be in the middle of nowhere, but he likes internet games too much to totally cut himself off.”

“Seriously?”

Loki nodded as there was a knock on the door. Loki and Skye both exchanged glances before Skye stood and flung the door open, blinking a few times at the sight that greeted her.

“Uh, hi?”

“Who is it, Skye?” Loki asked, coming up behind her. “Oh.”

“Hello,” the eyeless man said pleasantly. “Took us awhile to find you, but here you are!”

Skye glanced up at Loki before looking back at the eyeless man.

“Here we are,” Loki agreed. “Would you like to come in?”

“Thank you. I’d like that,” the man said, entering the cabin. He looked around, which taken his lack of eyes was just weird. “Nice digs.”

“Not really my style,” Skye said as Loki shut the door.

“And you are?” Loki politely inquired.

“Oh, I’m Gordon,” the man greeted, smiling and waving. “I’m here to offer the pair of you a safe place.”

“We’re in a safe place,” Skye countered.

“Are you?” Gordon asked. “I’m from a place that offers peace and quiet and training for those like the pair of you.”

“Training,” Loki asked, perking up. “Controlling our powers?”

“Yes. There are many others like you, with powers.”

Loki looked as if he was going to start salivating.

“Why do we need training?” Skye demanded.

“To control the powers and make it safe for you to exist. You both cause harm to all those around you and yourselves.”

The eyeless Gordon suddenly frowned deeply.

“What are you wearing on your hands?”

“These prevent the quakes,” Skye offered. “My friend made them for me.”

“She’s your friend?”

“She’s trying to help.”

“She’s doing more harm.”

“I would argue,” Loki insisted. “I’m no longer freezing bits of myself off or the ground below my feet thanks to our friend’s inventions.”

Gordon frowned, looking Loki up and down. “Your power is ice?”

“So it seems.”

He made an interested face and nodded. “Never had someone who had ice powers, but that’s cool. Kind like my favorite X-Man.”

“Iceman?” Skye asked.

Gordon nodded. “Well, just think about it. I’m not going to force you, but if you want to join us, just call. I’ll hear you.”

* * *

_People are fragile things / You should know by now / Be careful what you put them through_

_-Editors, “Munich”_

* * *

Four hours after Coulson had dropped them off, a horrified Skye and Loki stood outside the cabin and faced the destruction they both wrought protecting themselves. Bobbi knew this would work against them in the end with certain factions of SHEILD. She struggled to her feet, wondering if there was anything they could do to save Calderon’s feet which were currently in two blocks of ice. Luckily he (and the other agents besides her) were all unconscious.

Bobbi was the only one spared. 

“He was right,” Skye whispered, clutching Loki’s hand heedless of the cold that Bobbi knew was issuing through the magic glove Fitz had made (for some reason, one glove was still on). “We should have gone with him when he was here.”

“Gordon,” Loki whispered.

Before Bobbi managed to get her feet under her, an eyeless man appeared and took them both away in a blink of an eye. Bobbi sagged, raising her hand to her ear.

“We lost them. Another enhanced showed up and whisked them off.”

“What happened?” Agent Weaver demanded on the other end.

“They got away,” Bobbi replied, not wanting to get into the finer details. “We need medical.”

“Copy,” said another voice.

Weaver was likely arguing with Coulson about what to do now they’d lost their two prize enhanced humans.

That was if Coulson hadn’t done something stupid, like rebel. Bobbi closed her eyes, knowing full well that if Coulson hadn’t been on the coms, he’d gone rouge.

Again.

* * *

_Make sense out of this madness will it turn out right / Who’s to say where the wind will blow_

_-Lifehouse, “Chapter One”_


	2. Part II

**Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it.**

* * *

_And if the world should fall apart, hold on to what you know / Take your chances turn around and go_

_-Lifehouse, “Chapter One”_

* * *

“You are something new.”

Loki opened his eyes to find a woman seated next to him, staring at him as if he were a bug. Loki slowly sat up and realized they’d relieved him of his clothing and protective gear.

Not that it really mattered, as he’s destroyed his shoes and left glove.

He sat up, letting the white sheet draped over him pool around his waist, keeping his modesty. Resting on his elbows he looked over at the woman.

“You’re brave.”

“I heal quickly.”

“That’s nice. I used to do that as well,” Loki offered.

“I know. You’re not human.”

“No, but you don’t see yourself as human either, do you?”

“I am Inhuman, but you are not. What are you?”

“I was a Frost Giant, also known as Jotun. I doubt you’ve heard of them, as this is a small world who only know the Chitari because the Avengers told them.”

“A what?” the woman asked, wrinkling her nose in a familiar manner.

Loki cocked his head to the side.

“Frost Giant, only I’m a little person in their culture. Worth nothing so I was thrown out with the trash. Their world is dark, frozen. This skin, this is a skin of a Frost Giant.” Loki pointed a bare foot at her. “Blue, rough, hard, and freezing. And they can do this.”

Loki jerked his foot forward and shot ice in all directions from his various limbs. The woman jumped, looking scared for the first time. Loki frowned at the flat surface he was upon, moving to fully sit up now that it was mostly ice. He let the sheet fall and pool in his lap, looking at the woman.

“I have control issues.”

“I can see that,” she said, looking anywhere but at him.

Loki smirked. “I could do with training. Gordon mentioned you did this at this unknown location.”

The woman looked back at him, pressing her lips together. Loki smiled wildly at her.

“We do. You and your…friend did not transform in the usual manner. Most transformations take place here and with the aid of friends and family. And there are years of training that occur before one goes through transformation.”

“I took a short cut. Well, not really, as I am over a thousand years old.”

The woman blinked. “You were alive when they Kree were here.”

“Ah! You know where your magical prowess comes from!”

“It’s not magic. They are powers,” the woman corrected.

Loki scowled at his hands. “I do know that.”

“You were magical?”

“Yes.”

“Your name?”

“I go by Thomas.”

“That’s not your real name.”

“Do you deserve my real name?”

“Raina says you are called Loki.”

“Ah, I see you found her. I had wondered where she’d buggered off to.”

The woman frowned at him. “You do not like her?”

“No. She’s annoying,” Loki said with a flap of his hand. Ice flew out and froze a piece of art on the wall Loki found ugly. He shrugged and looked back at the woman. “Can you find someone to aid me in harnessing my powers?”

“Yes. I fear we best do that even if you’re not one of us.”

“Tragic, I know. Always the freak, always the monster. Could I bother you for some clothing?”

“I never said you were a monster,” the woman said quietly. “You’re just not Inhuman.”

Loki shrugged his shoulders up to his ears and let them fall. “Can you fix my nose?”

The woman looked mildly amused and nodded. “I will send someone in shortly. We’ve got a doctor who can regrow your skin easily and reshape your nose to your liking. There is a pile of clothing in that chair.”

“Brilliant! I love it here already,” Loki drawled, giving the woman a wide grin.

Granted he had no clue how he was going to dress himself without the gloves.

She gave him a strange look before rising from the floor and exited the room.

There was furniture in the room, but the woman sat on the floor. Interesting. Loki wondered where Skye was, but she was likely alone in a room just as he was. Loki investigated the clothes. Upon touching the folded shirt with his blue hand, it froze instantly, along with everything else in the pile plus the chair. Letting out a huff of frustration, Loki stood in the middle of the room and scowled for fifteen minute till the door opened and several people entered, one who was likely the skin doctor who’d regrow his nose. He smiled widely at the group. Two of the people blushed and looked away, while the elder one strode up to him and grabbed his chin.

“You are in need of a new nose,” the woman commented, turning his head left and right. “A looker you are, aren’t you?”

“Best looking man in the village and all that.”

“I doubt you ever lived in a village. Mirror?”

One of the lackeys (who stared at the floor to avoid looking at Loki in all his naked glory) handed her a mirror. She didn’t take it, simply rolled her eyes at the lackey. She looked at the pile of frozen clothes, let out a loud sigh. She looked at Loki, who went on smiling widely.

“My power, besides being a doctor, is I can regrow skin, cartilage, and bones. If you can believe this, I’ve actually done this a few times before. Hold the mirror so he can see what I’m doing. Don’t want to give him a nose he doesn’t like, now do we?”

* * *

_When I was a man I thought it ended / When I knew love’s perfect ache / But my peace has always depended / On the ashes in my wake_

_-Hozier, “Arsonist’s Lullabye”_

* * *

“Jaiying doesn’t like you.”

Loki was standing in an empty field with the doctor, who told him to call her Mary. He figured since she was the one dressing and feeding him until he got control of his powers, he could call her by her given name. She also was literally the only person besides Thor, his mother, and his personal servant who were not affect by the sight of his naked body, so parading around naked lost it’s allure when she didn’t react in any manner.

“No. Not many do. I’m an acquired taste.”

Mary boastfully laughed. “Sure you are, Prince.”

Mary refused to call him Thomas, insisting on calling him Prince. As long as she didn’t add a _my_ he was okay with that. He was, after all, a prince. (Hence why he was perfectly all right with someone else dressing him. Someone else had dressed him for over a thousand years.)

“So, since she’s iffy about you, no one wants to step up and train you. They’re all jumping to train up her daughter, but you?”

“Ah,” Loki said, nodding. “I figured as much.”

“How? The girl doesn’t even know yet.”

Loki smirked. “The nose scrunch. I thought it was familiar. I’m good at picking out relations based on things people do without realizing it. There are certain traits children pick up and keep throughout their lives without even realizing it. Some are even picked up without the child’s awareness of where the trait came from. Even though I’ve never witness it, I myself tend to move my hands in a very similar manner my mother did when she spoke. And we fight in the same style.”

“You don’t mean verbally, do you?”

“I was trained as a solider, so was my mother.”

“You share things with your dad?”

“I’m sure I do, I will never see them,” Loki admitted, talking about both Odin and Laufey.

“Well, okay. Don’t tell her when you see her. Jaiying wants to tell her herself. Now, let’s get those ice powers under control.”

“How’d you get this job? Your power isn’t similar to mine.”

Mary laughed. “Sure it is, bub. When I first came through the mist, I was shooting skin out of my fingers and regrowing my own left and right. After I learned to control it, to be at peace with my new found gift, I stopped doing that. The growing bone and cartilage came later, after I’d been practicing. Now, with you, who knows what you’ll be able to do once you harness the power and accept it.”

Loki pressed his lips together.

“You’re an alien, but not Kree, right?”

Loki nodded, feeling bitter. Mary didn’t seem to care, unlike Jaiying and the others he’d seen at this strange place.

“Does the race you’re from have similar powers?”

“As I’ve only met them a few times, I’m unsure how their ice powers work, but I do know they can turn their hands into ice knives.”

“You’ve only met them a few times?” Mary asked, her eyebrows raising and looking shocked. “You weren’t raised with your own folk?”

Loki shook his head. “I was adopted after my own people left me outside to freeze. I’m half human. About little over a year ago…”

Loki trailed off wondering how much he wished to share. If he did, she’d likely realize who he really was.

“Honey, I’ve put it together you’re not named Thomas,” she said. “I remember a pretty face.”

Loki cringed. “Do the others know?”

“Not really. While they paid attention to what happened after HYDRA and SHILED blew up, no one really paid attention to the information published passed what pertained to us. There wasn’t anything, as HYDRA kept it hidden what they knew. Kept it on paper. So they stopped paying attention, but I like watching the news. I saw them drag you and your boyfriend threw the mud till you seemingly vanished a year ago. Guess you went underground?”

“I joined SHEILD.”

“And then got yourself in a temple with a Diviner. Good on you. Moving on.”

Loki snorted.

“Can I still call you Prince?”

“It does not bother me at all.”

“Good. Now, you learned to control magic once, right?”

“Correct.”

Mary made a noise and flapped her hand at him. “This’ll be easy once you accept yourself. Pretty sure, since you’ve been a magician for thousands of years, that’s the reason you’ve yet to master what the Diviner gave you. You’ve not accepted it.”

“Gave me? Cursed me with.”

“Ah, see. There. Accept yourself and the rest will follow. I’m sure Frost Giants are able to touch things without turning them into block of ice.”

“They are also fully covered in this blue stuff and have no human skin.”

“Your mother managed to survive long enough to give birth to you. You think she was human, right?”

Loki nodded. “It explains my height and appearance. Even when I transformed into a Frost Giant, I did not look the same. I retained my…human features.”

“Asgardian. That’s what you were going to say.”

“You know a lot.”

“I like the news. I also remember almost everything. Horrible sometimes, useful others.”

Loki nodded. “Steven has an eidetic memory.”

“Sucks to be him. Okay. Not really. He’s one juicy boy.”

Loki glared at her as she cackled.

“I’m serious. He is a total beef cake. I’m jealous of the pair of you. My god…how do you go out in public together and not cause traffic jams?”

“Maybe we do. Shall we get to work? I’d like to be able to scratch my nose without needing your skills to give it back to me.”

Mary smirked and nodded, reverting into a serious teacher.

* * *

_In a rush we become some things we never thought we’d never be / We’re surprised by how hard / Left weary and scarred_

_-The Airborn Toxic Event, “All At Once”_

* * *

Mary watched him struggle, freeze the whole field, then create avalanches in his rage. Two days passed before Mary tried a different tactic. She knew what he needed to do and she couldn’t do it for him, could not show him how to do it either. It was all up to him.

“Let it go,” Mary urged.

Prince cast her a dark glare.

“I’ll start singing,” Mary taunted. “Actually, have you ever seen _Frozen?”_

“Yes. I have an…acquaintance who rather likes the movie for unknown reasons,” Prince remarked, glaring at his blue hands.

“You ever really watched it?”

“Yes. I have seen it.”

“No, I mean watched it, analyzed it, went online and looked through what hard core fans have picked out?”

The man gave her a look that was worthy of his nickname.

“So, I know the whole message of the movie is that love will solve your problems, but really, what solves Elsa’s issue is she accepts herself for who she is.”

Prince narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He looked like a majestic ice prince. Mary had tried to give him a crown she’d fashioned out of some sticks, but he had looked so alarmed, she quickly threw it away.

“Seriously, just give it a thought. Yeah, she loves her sister, but she doesn’t think anyone can accept her because of her powers. She’s so afraid of herself, she winds up hurting herself and everyone around her. Think: when Hans tells her Anna’s dead, what happens?”

“The storm stops.”

“Yup. She was using the storm to escape, to go back to her mountain to be alone, but once Anna was gone, she wanted to die. Then what happened?”

“Anna froze.”

“Exactly. She used her last strength to save her sister from Hans’ sword.”

“Love,” Price sneered.

“No! I mean, yes, but think: when did Elsa had the greatest control over her power?”

“At the end with Anna’s love.”

“NO! When she ran away, when she was alone on that mountain top. She did things she didn’t even realize she could do and had the utmost control. She built a castle and made an alive snowman for unknown reasons.”

“And then a monster.”

“Naw. He wasn’t a monster, but he did embody her fear at not being left alone,” Mary offered. “After she was gone, though, he stayed at the castle and hung out, didn’t he? And wasn’t angry any more. I mean, he found the crown and smiled, right?”

“Arendelle was still frozen when she was alone on the mountain.”

“Well, she’d left. Her magic stays as she leaves it when she goes.”

Prince gave her an annoyed look. “What is your point?”

“She was able to end the spell, get control, and stop randomly freezing everything she touched when she accepted herself.”

Prince gave her a look full of doubt and annoyance.

“Trust me. She accepted herself and she stopped freezing everything. Anna accepted her, and the rest of her kingdom followed, and they all lived happily ever after.”

“No one accepts me.”

“Steve does. Your best friend does. And Thor does,” Mary pointed out. “Your Avengers friends have all seen you blue, right? They’re still your friends. Or did you just want your strange electronics and lone glove back because you wanted to watch porn? Granted, I’ve no idea how you get an internet connection here, but hey, I’m no techno whiz. Or are you in there talking to yourself about weird stuff?”

“I do not watch porn.”

Mary quirked an eyebrow.

“Fine. People accept me, but this is different. The power is different, the appearance of myself is not the same. I am not a Frost Giant.”

“Prince, you look the same.”

“I do not. My hair, eyes, hands, feet…”

He scowled at his bare, blue feet.

“I recognized you,” she pointed out. “I knew who you were with the white hair and ruby eyes. And I didn’t know you that well.”

He looked away, his arms hanging limply at his sides.

“You gotta accept it, own it, make it yours. Once you do, I bet you’ll be able to build me an ice castle.”

“Fine,” he said, turning his back on her.

“I mean, I already know you can control the power somewhat.”

“How?”

“I’m not frozen,” Mary pointed out, gesturing around the rock she was sitting on. It was the only thing in the field not currently frozen solid. Besides herself. “You didn’t freeze me or let anything near me get frozen, even in your hissy fit.”

Mary noticed it, though she doubted even Prince realized it’d happened. She saw him accept himself, saw him realize what he needed to do to control the ice powers gifted to him. It was a subtle thing, like most accepting. He fisted his blue hands and flexed his blue toes. She felt a change in the atmosphere that had nothing to do with what Jaiying and her kid were doing on the other side of the mountain rang (yes, they’d felt the earthquakes the kiddo was causing, but it was hard to tell who was making the ground shake when Prince was having his own quakes thanks to his hissy fit). Prince took a deep breath, blew it out his nose in a controlled manner, and let go. His whole body loosened and he cocked his head to the side.

“Never sing to me,” he warned, as the ground began to melt around him. “No matter how much you want to.”

He gave her a grin that would freak most folks out, but made her laugh.

He built her an ice castle.

* * *

_Who would have thought I’d ever let somebody get to me / Who would have thought I’d ever give a damn_

_-Bonnie McKee, “Trouble”_

* * *

“It was weird,” Skye said, looking around Loki’s room. She’d not seen him since they had left the Hulk’s Winter Retreat. She felt lifetimes had passed.

He looked good. He’d had his nose fixed and wasn’t freezing anything with his bare blue feet or hands. And not once had he shot ice out of his limbs as she told him about her day with Cal and how horribly it’d ended.

She let a small smile grow across her face thinking about how far the pair of them had come since coming to Afterlife. She mostly had her own powers under control, as did Loki. Hell, he looked the best she’s ever seen him. He was clam, collected, and at ease. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about him that seemed looser.

“Coulson’s probably dying on the inside right now.”

“Don’t say that. I want to go after Lincoln, but Jaiying won’t let me.”

“The boy who was spying on you?”

“He was making sure I was okay,” Skye said, shifting uncomfortably. “Cal’s not exactly stable. God. I always wanted to meet my parents and one of them is crazy. Oh, I didn’t tell you. Jaiying’s my mother. Can you believe that? I thought she was dead. Hell, Cal told me she was dead. Well, he thought she was, or something. I’m not clear on the details since she said that Cal put her back together and her healing powers did the rest. Maybe he didn’t hang around for that part?”

“You didn’t inquire?”

“No. I was in shock. I found both parents, Loki. Can you believe that?”

“No. But, I am glad if you are.”

“I’m not really sure. I mean, I like her. I can see her being my mom. See myself in her more than I see myself in Cal.”

Loki nodded, looking distracted. Cool and calm, but distracted. Skye stared at him, still not sure what exactly had happened to transform him so much. Well, other than the obvious, but still. It was like his head was screwed on straight finally.

“Did you know Raina’s here?”

“Yes. I was told shortly after I woke. I have not seen her.”

“Oh. I just saw her.”

Loki raised his eyebrows, which were still black, unlike his hair on his head.

As if speaking of her would call her to them, Raina opened the door without knocking, a wild expression on her face.

“I saw you saving Lincoln.”

“Hark and thee shall appear,” Loki snarked.

“What?” Skye asked, standing up. “You saw me?”

“Another power. I get visions of the future,” Raina said, swiviling towards Loki and glaring at him. He smiled wildly. Raina turned her attention back to Skye. “I saw you saving Lincoln.”

“Who else knows about your visions?”

“Jaiying and Gordon,” Raina replied. “ And Loki, now. We should speak to Gordon.”

Skye nodded, turning to Loki.

“I shall remain here. Raina did not see me there, so I shall stay.”

Skye got a strange feeling Loki was plotting chaos, but shook it off. She had someone to save.

* * *

_The man with a thousand voices is talking perfectly loud / But nobody hears him / Or the sounds he appears to make_

_-The Beatles, “Fool on the Hill”_

* * *

“I can’t contact Jarvis.”

“What?”

Raina was confused. Loki was in her room, looking wild, and telling her he was unable to contact Jarvis, whoever that was.

“Where is Jarvis?”

“Loki, you know I cannot control what I see,” she began slowly, backing away.

There was a wild air to him that was worse than she’d ever witnessed in the time she’d known of him. She was honestly amazed ice was flying all over the place.

“I heard you speaking to Jaiying. You said metal men will pour out of the sky and the world will change.”

Raina stared at him.

“You’ve not seen the news, have you?”

“There are no TVs here, Loki.”

He made a disgusted noise and pulled a strange looking tablet out of his pocket and thrust it at her. She decided not to study it as when she took it, she saw flashes of Loki using it while seated next to a blond man who looked tense and was glancing left and right while wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. Loki was also blond, his hair standing up wildly in an artificial manner that made him look as if he had rubbed a balloon over his head. Loki looked at ease and was merrily using the tablet.

“Who is the blond guy?” she inquired, her questioned answered as she watched the video playing flash various images of the Avengers. While the top of his head was covered in the stock photo, she had just seen that jawline. “Never mind.”

Loki grunted. “What did you see?”

“You and him seated at a bar somewhere while you used this thing and he was cagey,” Raina replied watching the news footage with a frown. There were no metal men, well, the ones she’d seen, pouring out of the sky so she unsure why Loki was showing her. She looked up and found he’d relaxed a fraction. She turned her attention to the footage. She read the scrolling information at the bottom and frowned deeply. “Why did you believe I needed to see this?”

“Jarvis is not working,” Loki repeated manically, his voice raising a few octaves. “He always works and he’s not working.”

“Who or what is Jarvis?”

Loki made an annoyed noise. “Stark’s AI.”

Raina’s eyes went wide. “That’s not good.”

“The metal men you saw in your vision, what did they look like?”

“You think Stark’s AI went rouge?”

“JARVIS? No. JARVIS would never go rouge.”

“Because Stark designed him not to?”

“No,” Loki snapped, fisting his blue hands together. She saw him take a few slow breaths before he continued. “JARVIS evolves. Stark designed him to learn, to be adaptable. He is able to care. He cares a great deal for Stark and what happens to him. That? JARVIS would not have caused that. It goes against everything he’s programmed to do and everything he’s come to be since his inception.”

“This looks like the Avengers lost control of the Hulk.”

Loki made an annoyed noise again and pinched the bridge of his nose. She waited for him to yelp, but he remained silent other than the noises of frustration he kept making as he tried to think of how to explain to Raina whatever he’d come to tell her.

She marveled at his progress. When he arrived, he froze anything he touched and shot ice out of his limbs when he got emotional or tried to use his powers. She had seen him freeze his own nose off (again). One of the doctors here with a healing power had regrown it for him (again), but it’d be disgusting to witness him loose his nose. Here he was wearing shoes (expensive ones), hands bare, and touching his nose in annoyance. No ice anywhere.

“You’ve come far,” Raina commented with graveness.

Loki looked up. “Once I accepted what had happened, since I spent centuries training in the art of magic, it was simple to harness my natural abilities.”

“Natural abilities?” Raina echoed.

Loki smirked without any humor.

“I was never fully human, and now I’m not fully Inhuman. Always the odd one out, I am,” Loki seethed, taking the tablet form her, tapped his finger a few times on the screen before handing it back to her once again.

She gasped.

“You saw that, did you not?”

“How did you know? It was in the vision of the metal men,” Raina breathed. “I…didn’t know what it had to do with the metal men.”

“Oh, no.”

Loki sat down heavily on a padded stool. Raina watched as Loki did the thousand yard stare with large, ruby eyes. What little color he had, drained from his face. Even his dark blue hands seemed lighter.

“He didn’t.”

“What?”

Loki stood. He turned and exited the room, leaving Raina with the strange tablet. She turned it over and chuckled once she saw the back.

“No wonder he and Stark get along so well.”

* * *

_Enemies, well I don’t think they ever sleep / Make our way until we see the light / Another day, another chance and it will be_

_-The Subways, “Alright”_

* * *

Jim was pacing. Skye knew something was wrong, but refused to leave Lincoln alone while they were at SHEILD. She had saved Lincoln, with the help of the old team. She’d allowed SHEILD to care for Lincoln, but she was going to take him home once he was healthy enough for the trip.

She was unsure where she wanted to go, where home was. But to Lincoln, it was Afterlife. Or she thought it was. She didn’t actually know where he lived, if she was honest.

“What is going on?” Skye finally asked. “You’ve been pacing for an hour while staring at your tablet.”

“JARVIS is down.”

“Stark’s AI? How does he go down? Isn’t he located in more than one location?”

Jim looked up sharply.

“What? I’m a hacker. And Stark’s AI is almost un-hackable.”

“Almost?”

“Well, he gets curious and sometimes lets hackers in a little. Also, Stark’s paranoid, so of course he’d back up his precious AI at multiple locations. Especially after what happened when his Malibu house fell into the ocean.”

Jim nodded. “JARVIS should never be down as he is currently. He’s not working. Anywhere.”

Skye stared at Jim with large eyes.

“And then this happened,” Jim said, turning his tablet around to face Skye. She watched the footage as the Hulk rampaged in a city she didn’t recognize. “The Hulk does not behave as this, not since he and the Black Widow came up with the Lullaby. Also, the Hulk likes Iron Man. Quite a bit. Something is not right.”

“The Hulk tore up Harlem.”

Jim closed his eyes. “Not on purpose. Not like this. It was not mindless destruction.”

“He doesn’t look mindless. He looks mad,” Skye pointed out, flipping between news outlets to get better footage. She gasp as Iron Man (Or Iron Hulk, because seriously, that was some serious armor) and the Hulk took down a whole skyscraper. The fight ended after that, but she did catch the look on the Hulk’s face when he came out of the wreckage. The camera zeroed in on him and he looked upset as he looked around. Till Iron Hulk knocked him out. Then he looked unconscious as Iron Hulk took the big guy away.

“I believe something was influencing the Hulk.”

“JARVIS?”

“No,” Jim quickly said, walking around Lincoln’s bed and knelt down next to Skye. She looked at him while he searched her face for a beat before he made a decision. “Coulson sent the Avengers after Loki’s scepter.”

“Loki’s…what?”

“When Loki brought the aliens to Malibu, he carried a scepter. This was what he used to brainwash people,” Jim explained. “HYDRA stole it before the fall of SHEILD. Or well, they didn’t really steal it, but someone non-HYDRA noticed it was missing, so even before the fall of HYDRA the Avengers were looking. It was with HYDRA at a base in Eastern Europe.”

“And you know this because…”

Jim looked sheepish, but said, “JARVIS told me. JARVIS kept me updated on Captain Rogers movements.”

“In order to tell Loki?”

“No, he tells Loki himself. Loki calls JARVIS once a week. He would have called this morning.”

“Only, JARVIS wouldn’t pick up? Wait, why does JARVIS tell you?”

Jim pressed his lips together. “I am unsure, but I assumed it was to get more information to relay to Captain Rogers. Loki likely didn’t say much from how JARVIS was fishing when he spoke to me. Also, I believe JARVIS told me what Captain Rogers was doing to help us deal with Loki.”

“He was still cranky as hell sometimes. Was that when his honey was out on the Hunt for Mind Zombie Stick?” Skye grumbled.

“Yes.”

“How’d they get the information? Were they working alone? Or are they working with SHEILD on the downlow?”

“Agent Hill works for Stark.”

“You think Hill is still working for SHIELD?”

“Correct. I believe she answers to Director Coulson.”

Skye nodded, looking at Lincoln’s still face.

“That’s why when he was cranky, you were glued to his side, right? Because you knew Rogers was off being Captain America?”

Jim nodded. “I know he knew why I was doing that, but it helped. Loki is not meant to be alone no matter how much he claims he wishes it. He needs…people who know his quirks and care.”

Skye swallowed. “He’s alone now. I left him alone.”

“Did you ask him to come with you?”

“No, not really. He chose to remain there. I don’t know…Raina burst in telling me her vision and I knew I had to go.”

“Raina gets visions?” Jim inquired.

Skye cringed.

“I won’t tell,” Jim whispered.

“The room is likely bugged,” Skye grumbled. “And Simmons and Fitz have been staring at us since you got here.”

Jim did not even bother to glance at the window looking into the med bay where Simmons and Fitz were looming. If it wasn’t them, it was someone else. Skye ignored whoever was looking usually, but it being Fitz and Simmons unnerved her.

“It’s not bugged and the microphone isn’t on,” Jim said. “I’ve got those anti-bug things in my pocket and disabled the microphone last night. Since they do not look alarmed, neither has tried to turn it on to hear our conversation.”

Skye stared at Jim wide-eyed. “When did you go rouge, Nicholls?”

“When SHEILD fractured,” Jim replied. “I know you do not know what is going on, as you’ve been away, but I do not trust anyone here farther than I can throw them.”

“And no one trusts you?” Skye badly joked, remembering the rapping he and Coulson had done after the fall of SHIELD many moons ago.

“Oh, no. People trust me even after I do something to break their trust,” Jim sighed, looking deeply troubled. Skye knew it wasn’t because people still trusted him no matter what but whatever he did to break their trust that was bothering him.

“It’s your face. And Smile Power. How many times do I have to tell you, you’ve got a smile that’ll make the world fall at your feet?”

Jim glared without heat. “I will not tell of Raina’s powers. All they will ever know is she’s got a face full of spikes. But, speaking of Raina’s new power, how is Loki handling his?”

“He mastered it before I did,” Skye grumbled. “He doesn’t even need gloves passed when he goes out in public. Ice no longer shoots out of his hands and feet at random and he’s no longer freezing bits off himself. They fixed his nose. Regrew it with an Inhuman doctor who can regrow skin, cartilage, and bones. Thank god. He was looking a little…like he’d gotten bad plastic surgery.”

“He is rather vain. It is good they did that for him,” Jim agreed. “And he is not alone. He’s…where ever you two were. There are others there, are there not?”

“True. But no one trusts us, or really talks to us. We didn’t go through the transformation like they did, so they’re not sure what to make of us. The leader accepted me quickly, but she’s a little weary of Loki. Because he’s not technically human, he’s not Inhuman. She’s not sure what to make of that.”

“He didn’t tell her what we guessed?”

Skye shook her head. “Loki doesn’t trust her, I think. He likes Gordon and Lincoln and who ever helped him master his ice power, but he doesn’t like Jiaying.”

Which kind of hurt, but since Jaiying didn’t care for Loki, she could understand why they didn’t get along. Skye had told Jaiying Loki was like a good Scotch, but the woman hadn’t replied, had simply smiled and changed the topic.

“He’s always had issues with people in positions of power,” Jim dryly joked, then sighed deeply. “He’s discovered by now JARVIS does not work. He will be a wreck.”

“You could call him, you know. He’s got all his tech on him. I didn’t have a phone on me because I left it in the cabin, but he’s Loki and he had all sorts of doodads on him and I bet they work there.”

“He’s not called,” Jim said, sitting up straight and pulling out his iLoki.

“Do you think it’d occur to him to call?”

“Yes. He always calls people when there’s a crisis. Or messages them.”

“If JARVIS is down, the Hulk and Iron Hulk are fighting, wouldn’t he just assume the worst?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Hey, do you think you could get information out of Hill?”

“Why?”

“So you could tell Loki that Steve’s okay, duh. And, well, to know what’s going on.”

Jim blinked a few times, then smiled sadly.

“Come on, no one is going to tell you anything here. I bet they’re all bickering about whatever or running around like chickens with no heads,” Skye insisted. “Plus, I bet HIll would tell you if you said JARVIS was broken and Loki might go nuts if he doesn’t get some information soon on Steve.”

Jim stared down at his lap. “Wouldn’t Loki call her?”

“No. He’s not communicated with anyone other than JARVIS, right? He doesn’t want them to know where he is. He ran away to join an organization they don’t think exists. He wears a wig in public and always wears sunglasses even if it was raining.”

Jim took a deep breath and dialed. He put it on FaceTime and waited while it rang.

“Yes, Agent Nicholls?” Hill’s voice came. She sounded calm, collected, and expecting Jim’s call.

Jim smiled. “JARVIS is not working.”

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because people like it when I smile,” Jim replied, smiling faltering.

Hill quirked an eyebrow.

“You’ve been trying to contact JARVIS?”

“Yes. He never contacted me with Captain Rogers’ current condition. I assumed since the Hulk was rampaging, the Avengers had been involved in something. There was no footage of any of them other than Iron Man and the Hulk. I was worried, so I tried to contact JARVIS.”

“Where’s Loki?”

“Somewhere safe,” Skye butted in, putting her chin on Jim’s shoulder and looking at Hill. She was the picture of collected business woman. “We’re just worried for his sanity. If JARVIS isn’t working, isn’t he likely to assume the worse?”

“Where is he?”

“You don’t know?”

Hill pressed her lips together, eyes locking on Skye. Skye tried hard not to fidget or look guilty of something.

“You’re back, so where’s Loki?”

BINGO!!!!

Hill was in contact with Coulson and still part of SHIELD.

“Agent Hill—”

“No longer an agent.”

“And the sky is green,” Jim remarked, trying the smile again.

Hill looked annoyed, pressing her lips together till they almost vanished into her face.

“Fine. Captain Rogers and the Avengers are alive.” She glared at Skye once again before going on. “They came across two enhanced humans who did some damage. Mentally. Not physically. Physically they are all okay.”

“What were their powers?” Skye inquired, trying to sound casual. While she didn’t know everyone at Afterlife, she was familiar with many of their powers from asking too many questions.

“They’re twins,” Hill sighed, looking annoyed. “They didn’t come into their powers like you and Loki. They signed up to be experimented on by von Strucker. He and his HYDRA goonies used the scepter to bring out the powers. They were the only subjects who survived.”

Skye shivered at the same time Jim did. She glanced over at Lincoln, who’d been held captive by von Strucker and his evil doctor and experimented upon likely in a similar manner. She couldn’t imagine what would drive someone to volunteer for that kind of treatment.

“So they’re not…like Skye and Loki?”

“I don’t know. We don’t know much about the scepter or what powered it. Passed…”

“Stark found something,” Jim realized, leaning forward towards the tiny phone screen and dislodging Skye from his shoulder.

“Don’t hack into our systems,” Hill warned. “I can’t tell you the finer details, but Stark created a peace-keeping AI he called Ultron. Something happened and he made…a…”

Skye’s eye went wide. “Oh, god. His peace-keeping AI is trying to end the world, isn’t it?”

“Did Loki know about this program?” Jim asked.

“No idea,” Hill grumped. “But, right now Ultron is everywhere on the web. He’s trying to break in and steal the codes for the world’s atomic weapons and missiles to launch them and wipe out the world, so yes, Stark created a robot bent on destroying the very world it was designed to bring peace to.”

“Well, if we’re all dead, there’d be peace,” Skye remarked, sitting down heavily and on longer looking at the screen.

“Something is stopping Ultron from getting the codes, though,” Hill admitted through gritted teeth.

“Someone’s stopping him whose not Stark?” Skye asked, standing and looking back at the phone’s screen to find Hill shrugging.

“There is nothing you two can do. Other than control Loki.”

Jim glanced at Skye. She bit her lip, but said nothing. She could do some hacking/computer work to see who was keeping Ultron at bay. Though, if Ultron was already everywhere…she’d need Loki’s laptop. It had to be around here somewhere since it was likely SHIELD minions had swept the cabin after they’d made their dramatic exit.

“Where are the Avengers now?” Jim inquired.

“Somewhere safe. They’re going to lie low till we figure out the next move to take down Ultron.”

Jim nodded. “Thank you.”

“Tell no one. Except Loki.”

“I won’t, Agent Hill,” Jim graciously replied.

“No one likes me here, other than Jim,” Skye offered.

Hill sighed, rolled her eyes, and hung up.

“Stark created a nightmare,” Jim breathed, dialing his phone. He waited a moment, looking tense, till someone answered. Skye couldn’t hear what the person was saying, but it was a male voice and it was speaking quickly. “Yes, I just got off the phone with Agent Hill.” Short pause. “Yes, I did. She did not tell us much, but Captain Rogers and the rest of the team are safe and waiting till they know what to do next.”

Loki began talking again. Skye began to ponder where they minions would have stored Loki’s magical laptop.

“Are you the one— you’re not? Who is it then?”

Loki went on for another five minutes and judging by Jim’s expression, he had no idea what the hell Loki was talking about. Skye grabbed the phone.

“— it has to be JARVIS, but I won’t know till I go to nexus hub in Oslo.”

“You’re going to Olso?”

“Skye?”

“Yeah.”

“If I can persuade Gordon to take me,” Loki admitted, sounding bitter. “He and Raina are pow-powing. She’s…accepted her power fully and has been using it to sway others to her side.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t think Jaiying likes it. Especially since her right hand man is listening.”

“Loki.”

“Never mind. No one ever believes me. Anyway—“

“Anyway, what?”

Loki was silent for a full minute before he spoke again.

“Iron Man’s been spotted flying over the Atlantic. I assume he’s on his way to Oslo.”

“Okay. So, you don’t have to go. And why were you going to Oslo?”

“It’s the central storage hub or something unbelievable that seems just perfect for a plot device for JARVIS to battle Ultron without anyone knowing it.”

“There is a central hub for the Internet? Why am I just now hearing about this?”

“It’s rather top secret. I only found out— JARVIS. Oh.”

“Loki?”

“It is JARVIS!”

Skye could hear him tapping on a screen and let out a curse.

“Wish you had your laptop?”

“Yes. Do you happen to have it?”

“Nope, but I was going to go looking for it. Do I need to?”

“Yes. I do not trust others with it, so if you could I’d be grateful. But, I believe Stark will get what he needs.”

“Okay, then, it’s out of our hands. And, Lokes, Steve is okay.”

“Hill did not tell you where they’d gone?”

“Somewhere safe. You could ask Gordon to take you to Steve. Pretty sure he glows or something because he’s totally super.”

“No.”

“You’ve mastered your power.”

“No.”

“Yeah, you have.”

“No, no I am not leaving Afterlife.”

“Please don’t say something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” Skye moaned as Jim chuckled. She glanced up to see Simmons and Fitz had left. She looked back at Lincoln, who remained in a coma. “Please, just don’t. There’s nothing fishy—”

“There’s plenty fishy,” Loki insisted. “What’s going on at SHEILD?”

“There’s two factions of SHEILD,” Skye sighed. “One led by Coulson, one led by some other old dude. If this thing ends well, they might become friends.”

“Have they been asking about where you’ve been?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t said anything they can use. I want to tell Coulson, but…”

“You are right to worry. Not about Coulson, but if he tries to make friends with this other fraction, you and Afterlife might be in danger.”

“How will they find them? No one can get there other than Gordon.”

“HYDRA can track Gordon. How do you think HYDRA found you when you had your day out with Cal?”

“How?”

“Science.”

Skye grumbled. “You’re grumpy.”

“I am not grumpy. Is this how Cassandra felt?”

“Who?”

Loki let out a noise of annoyance and hung up on her. Skye pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the now blank screen.

“Who was he talking about?”

“He asked me if this was what Cassandra felt and then hung up on me.”

Jim looked baffled, but shrugged. “You should get some sleep.”

“I’m staying here. Do you think you can find the laptop?”

“I did not say you needed to leave. There is another bed behind you and I will remain here while you sleep. You’ve not slept since you arrived.”

“And the laptop?”

“I will look for it when you wake.”

“Will you smile at anyone who walks in?”

“Of course.”

Skye grudgingly went to the other bed and curled up. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sleeping when Jim shook her awake.

“Did he wake up?” she asked as she tried to sit up but found her limbs not cooperating. She’d really been asleep for a long time. Eck. She needed a toothbrush stat.

“No. Something happened,” Jim whispered, looking worried.

It was dark in the med bay, meaning it was the middle of the night. Rubbing her eyes, Skye sat up and blinked a few times against the light of the tablet Jim was extending towards her. She took it, taking in the multiple screens showing footage of an out of control train in Seoul and something happening in some city called Sokovia.

“How long have I been sleeping?”

“Twelve hours, give or take.”

“You’ve been awake that whole time?” Skye asked, now understanding why she was so freaking stiff.

“No. I’m sorry. I fell asleep,” Jim said, looking ashamed.

Skye sighed, looked at Lincoln. He remained unchanged, so she forgave Jim for falling asleep. She looked back at the tablet and noticed the flying metal men in both cities, but since the thing in Seoul had happened ten hours ago, she tapped one of the live screens of what was happening in Sokovia.

“Is that part of a city floating away?”

“Yes. That’s the city where JARVIS said the Avengers were going before he went down.”

“What the hell is going on?” Skye demanded, as the footage she’d enlarged was in a language she couldn’t read.

“About an hour ago, the Avengers showed up and began to try to evacuate the city. They got most of the population out before the city center began to rise above the rest of the city and the metal men began to pour out of nowhere. There are still quite a few people on the—”

“HEY!” Skye yelled, then sheepishly looked at the sleeping Lincoln, though he was in a coma, so shouting likely didn’t disturb him. “Hey, isn’t that a hellicarrier? I thought they were all destroyed!”

Jim came around the bed and leaned over to see the screen. Skye would have invited him to sit down, but she doubted he’d do that. It was her bed, so he’d never sit on it. Skye maneuver herself so he didn’t have to crane he neck.

“It seems one survived.”

“Or someone built another one. At least it seems to be helping,” Skye commented as the camera zoomed in on what appeared to be transport ships landing on the floating city island. “Jim, do you think what I think about what Ultron is going to do with the floating city?”

Skye looked up at Jim with big eyes. Jim sat down on the edge of the bed with a thump. They both stared at one another and with wide eyes they stared at the screen to watch the events unfold.

* * *

_There was a time I was taking all bets / That this place was even better than as good as it gets / And now looking back from the outside in / I think I was choking on the air_

_-Sara Bareilles, “Eden”_

* * *

Loki was not freaking out.

Loki was pissed.

While Gordon and several others wanted to go help the Avengers get the people off the floating city and send people to help, Jiaying forbad anyone from leaving Afterlife. Everyone crowded around Raina to ask her about her vision and if the planet lived to fight another day. She fully embraced the attention and told everyone about her visions and others she had while they all sat around waiting for news.

Loki clutched his tablet and sat in his room. He could see the people gathered around Raina from his sitting room, so he didn’t feel the need to be outside. Plus, no one other than Raina and Mary knew he had tech that worked here and neither had yet told anyone. That Afterlife had no internet connection was criminal. He knew they had cable, as there was a TV in the public gathering area, but no one had cell phones or computers here.

He looked back at the tablet. He had only gotten an Internet connection due to making his super duper Leopold and Loki improved StarkPhone (his iPhone had met Death By Ice during his transformation) a hotspot. He was not going to sit amongst those in the common room glued to an ancient TV.

The Avengers had saved the day, at a great cost. The public at large was rather angry since finding out the cause was Stark. Between the thing a year ago with HYDRA and the hellicarriers, SHEILD’s downfall, and now this, the politicians were jumping at a chance to “do something” about the “trouble brewing” in their great nations.

Loki tossed the tablet aside and stared out the window. Raina was speaking when Gordon jolted. The two talked further before hurrying off. Loki tilted his head, frowning.

* * *

_I guess it’s time for me to show what I’ve got / Things will never be the same / I may snuff the burning flame / Or I may prove to be much more than I thought_

_-Weezer, “Brave New World”_

* * *

Everything went to hell in a hand basket.

Loki knew it would.

After Jaiying stumbled out of the room she’d been meeting with Agent Gonzales (alone), he went inside, finding the broken bits of what formerly had been Agent Gonzales. Loki narrowed his eyes and swept outside as missiles were fired on Afterlife by a Quinjet.

He pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes.

Chaos broke out and everyone ignored him in their haste to flee or get into fights with the remaining SHEILD personnel. Loki strode off towards where the Quinjet was hovering. The ground shook violently, sending Loki to his knees. He got up and hurried towards where he was sure the epicenter was, only to find Skye gone and May unconscious. Simmons came tripping around the corner.

“May! Loki!”

“Agent Simmons, what is going on?”

“I was going to ask the same thing,” Simmons remarked, skidding to a halt next to May. “Is she okay?”

“Yes. And Jaiying has declared war, having invented the need herself,” Loki proclaimed.

Having become used to being told he was wrong about everything when it came to Jaiying, who could do no wrong, he was surprised when Simmons nodded.

“Agent Morse never showed up and none of our agents are answering from the Quinjet that just shot at us,” Simmons replied. “If Jaiying is making up that Gonzales shot her—”

“He’s dead. She dosed him with a crystal. I found the broken bits on the table and Gonzales in pieces on the floor. There was no way he could have shot her where she was shot and have crumbled as he was in the time frame. The dust from the crystal was gone by the time I entered, so he’d been long gone by the time she’d shot herself.”

Simmons stared at him with wide eyes while chaos continued to reign around them. She looked unable to conceive herself someone would shoot themselves to start a war.

“We need to find Raina,” Loki urged. “I can carry Agent May.”

“Raina?”

“She got on Jaiying’s bad side. She was locked up to prevent her from interrupting the meeting. Raina saw that if Jaiying met with SHEILD it would destroy the Afterlife. As usual, Raina was correct.”

Simmons nodded, hurrying after Loki. They didn’t make it far before one of the residents tried to attack them. Loki shot ice out of his foot, ruining his shoes, but preventing the person from harming them. The person quickly hobbled off, giving Loki an evil look. Loki returned it.

“I think we should get out of here,” Simmons suggested, tugging on Loki’s sleeve. “I…the Quinjet landed. We should go figure out what happened.”

“Agreed. I have no wish to remain here.”

“And Raina?”

“We will find her later.”

Simmons nodded, leading the way to where the Quinjet landed. They entered to find the agents manning it unconscious and Zabo sitting in a jump seat tied up and wearing headphones. Loki carefully set Agent May down on the floor before heading to the cockpit while Simmons checked the unconscious agents. One shakily pushed himself up when Simmons touched him.

“Were there any other SHILED agents here?” Loki demanded as the man sat up.

“We lost one. The man with no eyes, Gordon? He grabbed him. We need to call the Playground,” the agent said as Simmons came to stand next to Loki. “Uh, should we take him?”

“Yes,” Loki said. “Jaiying was trying hard to get rid of him, so we ought to take him. Leave him tied up, though. Who knows what she told him to get him to agree to this.”

“Could that be because he’s insane?” Simmons suggested.

“He’s her husband,” Loki stated, happily watching Simmons’ jaw drop.

“Is Jaiying…”

“Yes,” Loki shortly said. “Did she not tell you?”

“I didn’t exactly speak with her much when she was at the Playground,” Simmons admitted, looking sheepish.

Loki leveled her a glare. “We are still who we were before.”

“Are you, though?”

“Can you fly?” Loki demanded of the agent on the ground.

“Not advisable,” the man admitted, swaying. Simmons knelt down and grabbed the First Aid kit.

Loki strode into the front of the plane. He had not actually flown one, but read the manual. It would have to do for now. “At the core, we are still who we were.”

“She went with them,” Simmons pointed out, dapping the cut on the other man’s head.

“She’s being manipulated by a great manipulator who happens to be her mother. As someone who spent most of his life being a chess piece by a great game, I can understand how she’d fall for it.”

“Odin manipulated you?”

“Every leader manipulates those who will aid in furthering their cause,” Loki darkly said, setting the Quinjet’s corse and putting on the autopilot. He turned to Simmons. “Jaiying is a leader and is manipulating all of the Inhumans to do what she believes needs to be done in order to protect their species. She is not right, but try telling that to those she’s helped with what appeared to be selflessness is pointless. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“She’s building an army,” Simmons surmised. “Has been for a long time, hasn’t she?”

“Correct.”

“But, they seemed so peaceful,” Simmons recounted.

“Most of them are. Most want to be left alone to enjoy their lives. And I have a feeling they went home.”

“Home? Wasn’t that their home?”

“Not all of them. Many only go to Afterlife to visit and enjoy the company of those there. It’s like an all exclusive resort,” Loki explained. “Some live there, but most do not.”

Simmons sighed and slowly nodded. She asked the agent a few questions, then nodded. She stood and turned to Loki. “We should call the Playground. They need to know what happened.”

* * *

_It’s ourselves that we betray / How has it come to this / We are but drones, silenced, led amiss_

_-Trivium, “Blind Leading the Blind”_

* * *

Skye panted, wrapping her arms around herself. 

“She was just like Ultron,” she blankly said, rocking back and forth. “More crazy than Cal.”

Jim was in front of her, his worried blue eyes filling her vision.

Whoa. Where had he come from?

“She said the same thing that crazy, homicidal robot Stark built said,” Skye whispered, trying to get lost in those baby blues.

Jim said nothing, but held his arms open. Skye fell into them, burying her face in his chest. He felt strong, solid, and god how she’d missed his smell while she’d been away.

“I picked the wrong side. Why do I do that?”

“She was your mother,” Jim quietly said, pressing his chin to the top of her head. “Love is blind.”

“He’s right, sweetie,” Cal said from above her head somewhere. She heard him fall heavily to the ground, panting. “I let her become what she was. I let her…”

“She did that on her own.”

“Not all on her own,” Cal insisted. “Before HYDRA she was gentle. After…she was poisoned, I just did not want to see it.”

“The fight is over,” Jim offered. “I left Campbell and May after they defeated the last of the Inhumans. None lost their lives, that I know of, other than Jaiying.”

“She wouldn’t have stopped unless she was dead and there was no way for her to use her healing power to come back,” Skye said. She pushed herself off Jim’s chest, but didn’t venture out of his arms. She looked over his extended arm at Cal, who looked worse for wear. “That’s how her healing power works: she sucked the life out of things.”

Cal nodded. “She didn’t need to kill the other person. She started that only after HYDRA.”

Skye felt extremely sad and angry. She looked back to where she’d pushed the plane off the deck of the ship.

“This isn’t going away. I might have made this worse,” she whispered.

“Why? What happened?” Jim asked.

“I pushed the plane with all her crystals over the edge of the boat,” Skye whispered. “What’s going to happen to the crystals?”

Jim let go of her and stared at her, his blue eyes wide. She began to hyperventilate. Jim quickly pull a bag out of somewhere and handed to her. He spent two minutes trying to get her to calm down.

“You didn’t know. You were simply trying to get rid of them. People have dumped lots of things into the ocean to get rid of them.”

“Yet, they don’t really ever get rid of them, do they?” Cal unhelpfully offered.

“Hush,” Jim growled before looking back at Skye. “If we’re lucky, it fell into a trench and we will never hear of it again.”

Skye gave him a dark look from over the top of the bag. She was not that lucky.

* * *

_I ran away from my mistakes / Crashed and burned but I’m okay / The most important thing / Learning what it all will bring_

_-Falling In Reverse, “My Heart’s to Blame”_

* * *

“Are you going home?”

Loki looked up from his packing to see Skye leaning against the doorjamb.

“No.”

“Then where are you going?”

“The Avengers’ Headquarters.”

Skye rolled her eyes. “Then you’re going home.”

“What is home?”

“Where the heart is, stupid,” Skye said, pushing herself upright. “Your heart is living at the Avengers HQ.”

Loki went back to packing and chose to ignore the girl in the room.

“Coulson’s given me an assignment. I’m to head my own team of Inhumans,” Skye said. “I was hoping you’d be on it, but if you’re leaving…”

“I do not know if he’ll welcome me,” Loki quietly admitted, stuffing things into his bag. He was unaware he’d gathered so many items in the year and half he’d been with SHEILD.

“He might not,” Skye agreed. “But, if he loves you like I think he does, he’ll let you stay and prove you are aren’t a complete waste of space.”

Loki straightened and glared at Skye.

She threw up her hands. “I’m not saying I ever thought you were a waste of space, but admit it. When you first got here, you kinda thought you were.”

“I wanted to kill, beat, and bash things,” Loki flatly stated. “I did not think I was a waste of space.”

“You’ve always thought you were a waste of space. It’s the whole reason you wound up here in the first place.”

Loki opened his mouth to argue, but Skye put her hand up to silence him.

“You were depressed.”

Loki looked away. “Would you not be?”

“You had it all, Lokes. You had it all and it was ripped away from you. And that’s happened to me. For a few minutes I had it all. Everything I ever wanted. I had a family, Lokes. A real family.”

Loki studied Skye, narrowing his eyes.

“It was an illusion, though. And nothing I’d dreamed of and now it’s over. Mom’s dead, Dad doesn’t know who I am, and all I’ve got left is my name.”

“Your real name?”

Skye nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to go by it now. Daisy Johnson.”

“No more Skye?”

“No. My dad’s not a bad guy, not really. He was…well, mislead and, well, HYDRA.”

Loki nodded his understanding.

“He gave me that name, so I’m going to use it. Skye was something I chose for myself, since I had no name as far as I was concerned. I always figured once I found my real parents, then I’d find my name and take it. Claim it for myself.”

“And you have.”

“Have you?”

“I am Loki Laufey-Odinson. My name says it all.”

“Does it?”

Loki cocked his head to the side. “Explain.”

“Well, your Asgardians take your father’s names and add son or whatever daughter is in your tongue, right?”

Loki nodded.

“You never really met Laufey, did you? I mean, sure you saw him when you killed him, when you tricked him, and when he called your brother a princess, but he’s not your actual father. You are not his son, so why is he part of your last name?”

“He is my father,” Loki said, feeling confused. “His genetic code gave me all this.”

Loki held up his two blue hands, held up one bare blue foot, and blinked his rusty red eyes at her.

“That’s it. That is all he gave you, Lokes. Genetic code?”

“And what did yours give you besides genetic code?”

Skye, or rather Daisy, smiled sadly at him. “He showed me what it really was to love someone so much it drove you insane, drove you to become a monster you didn’t even know, but you could come back from it and do the right thing in the end. Even if the right thing was killing your own wife.”

Loki blinked.

“You didn’t hear him, Loki. All he wanted was to be a family, to know me, to tell me how our life was before HYDRA ruined it,” Daisy said, stepping forward till she was right in front of him. “Did Laufey give you that?”

“No.”

“Then, I ask once again, why is he part of your last name?”

“He is my birthfather and that is really—”

“Then why is Odin still there?”

Loki pressed his lips together.

“Most days, you can’t even admit he is your father. Most days, you seem to detest the man, but besides not telling you were adopted, what did he do that was so horrible as leaving you out in the cold to die?”

Loki said nothing for a long time. “I was a pawn.”

“Were you?”

“At first.”

“No parent is perfect, but I’m sure he didn’t manipulate you to start a war against mankind, did he?”

“Didn’t he?”

“I don’t think so. I know you like to think Odin manipulated you your whole life into becoming who you are, but really, Lokes, think about it. What did he do other than let you into his home?”

Loki noticed she didn’t say love him, which he was thankful for as most days he was still unsure Odin could love a Frost Giant, yet another aspect of Loki knew that Odin did love him in his own way. He knew it’d never be in the manner Loki craved, but it was there and the proof was he was currently on Earth. Loki would never have been on Earth as he currently was if Odin hadn’t allowed him to leave in the first place to seek help.

Loki sat down on the bed and stared at the wall opposite.

“Just food for thought.”

“Loki Odinson,” he whispered. He’d not used that name since the day he let go and fallen into the Void.

“Or, if you want, you could be Friggason, or whatever.”

Loki looked up.

“What? Why can’t she get in on the action of being part of your last name? While you’re never sure of where you fall with Odin, you love your mother. You always have, no matter what.”

“True.”

“And no one knows Loki Friggason. Or would it be Friggson? Friggson sounds better, but Frigga was her name, so…uh, help me out here.”

“It’d be Friggason,” Loki whispered.

“Well, why leave her out yet take Laufey?” Daisy challenged.

Loki stared at her. “Would you take something Jaiying gave you?”

Daisy removed a necklace from under her shirt. “She gave me this and I will wear it. It was hers from before HYDRA.”

Loki looked away. “No one knows Loki Friggason.”

“No one will be looking for him either. You don’t look like the Loki they’re looking for. Or were looking for. I think they’ve been a little distracted from you as of late.”

“True. Though, I did make the news yesterday.”

“Did you have white hair, red eyes, and blue hands and feet?”

“I do not have white hair at the moment.”

“No, you colored it blond for some reason. Why did you do that?”

“Raina told me she saw me with Steven and I had blond hair. Only doing what I have to in order to assure it comes true since she will not be sharing visions with the world any longer.”

Daisy nodded, folding her arms across her chest and studying Loki. “Go home, Loki Friggason.”

Loki looked up at her. “I think I will.”

* * *

_Time will tell us if we’re out of answers when it stops / Climb back down to the beginning / Take it from the top_

_-Lifehouse, “Chapter One”_

 


End file.
